Roku / news_and_weather / KTAL NOW NBC 6 KMSS FOX 33
REVIEW
KTAL Now is a competent local-news channel built for the four counties that already watch it.
Nexstar's free 24/7 stream of NBC 6 and Fox 33 newscasts gives Shreveport-Bossier-Texarkana viewers a cord-cut path to the same anchors they already know. Outside that DMA, there is nothing here for you.
BY THE APP COMRADE DESK · MAY 10, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
KTAL Now NBC 6 KMSS Fox 33
NEXSTAR BROADCASTING, INC.
OUR SCORE
6.4
ROKU
★ 5.0
PRICE
Free
Local-news apps on Roku have a narrow honest case. They exist so the household that dropped cable can still watch the 10 p.m. newscast with the same anchor who has been doing the job for fifteen years. Everything else — the on-demand reels, the weather alerts, the original community segments — is a bonus. KTAL Now, Nexstar’s free Roku channel for NBC 6 Shreveport and Fox 33 KMSS, understands this assignment and does not over-reach.
Launched on connected TV in late 2025, the channel runs a single 24/7 FAST stream of the two stations’ live programming, with a sparse VOD shelf underneath. It is a utility, not a destination. For viewers inside the Ark-La-Tex DMA — Shreveport, Bossier City, Marshall, Texarkana — that is exactly the right shape. For anyone outside, the channel is a curiosity that installs cleanly and gives you no reason to return.
This is the rare Roku review where geography is the entire score. Inside the footprint it is a 7.5; everywhere else it is closer to a 4. We are splitting the difference.
It is the rare Roku channel whose entire reason for existing is a single zip-code bracket, and it is honest about it.
FEATURES
A 24/7 live FAST channel carrying KTAL NBC 6 and KMSS Fox 33 newscasts, weather cut-ins, and original Ark-La-Tex segments, plus on-demand replays of recent shows. The channel is free, ad-supported, and requires no sign-in or pay-TV authentication — install, launch, watch.
Navigation is the standard Nexstar local-news template: a live tile up top, then horizontal rows for newscasts, weather, sports, and community segments. Roku's voice remote will deep-link into the live stream from Home. There is no DVR, no profile system, no cast support, and no second-screen pairing.
Coverage area is the Shreveport-Bossier City-Texarkana DMA — KTAL is licensed to Texarkana and operates from Shreveport; KMSS is a Mission Broadcasting Fox affiliate under a shared services agreement with Nexstar. KSHV 45, the third station in the cluster, gets occasional content but is not the headline brand.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
For viewers inside the four-county footprint, this is exactly what a local-news channel should be: free, persistent, and tied to the anchors and weather team they already trust on broadcast. The cord-cutter who left cable for Roku two years ago can now get the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts back without an antenna.
The launch-to-live-video time is fast, the stream holds up at 720p on a Streaming Stick 4K, and the ad load during news segments is roughly what you'd see on broadcast — not the punishing pre-roll wall some Nexstar FAST channels lead with.
ROOM TO IMPROVE
The on-demand library is thin. Replays surface the most recent newscast and a handful of evergreen segments, but there is no archive worth browsing — last week's weather hit is gone. A local channel without a deep VOD shelf gives you a reason to launch it once and forget it.
The interface is the same Nexstar-template UI shipped on dozens of their market channels, with no concession to Shreveport-Bossier specifics. No closed captions toggle inside the player on older Roku hardware, no chapter markers inside long replays, and no way to set a default newscast. Outside the DMA, the channel still installs and plays — but you are watching strangers tell you about traffic on I-49.
CONCLUSION
Install it if you live between Shreveport and Texarkana and you cut the cord; skip it if you don't. KTAL Now does the one thing a hyperlocal news channel needs to do — get the broadcast newscast onto the TV without a cable bill — and asks for nothing in return. The next thing to watch is whether Nexstar invests in a real on-demand library or leaves this as a live-only utility.