I realise that there's lots of other potential media service software, but given how good the 'channels' UI eco system is, any plans to bring movies to the app? 
Neil
No. Channels is for TV and DVR. If you want full media library management, then use an application that offers that: Kodi, Plex, Emby, MediaPortal, ...
Yes, if you read my post, I'm well aware of the other apps, but none are as fluid, or nice as channels, and for them, live tv / dvr is the hardest part to do... so all the hard work has been done 
We'll have to agree to disagree about that part. Personally, I found that once I had Tvheadend setup and SQL-backed libraries for my media, that Kodi frontends worked quite well and seamlessly integrated everything into a single interface.
The only real missing features were better recording rule interfaces and remote viewing: Channels has far superior ease of remote viewing (but it is possible with Tvheadend using profiles and hardware transcoding just like Channels uses), but Tvheadend allowed for much more involved rules.
Again, YMMV. However, don't ever expect Channels to become a media library program.
While I agree that it would be nice to import movies into Channels, I feel like the software is so awesome as it is because they are only trying to do ONE thing and are doing it really, really well.
I have used Plex and currently use Emby for my ripped TV Shows and Movies but as far as I am concerned neither of those are full proof and it's partly because they are doing too many things. The Live TV in Emby, while better than Plex has done isn't perfect. I have tried to use it but there are too many little issues.
Channels has very rarely failed me and when something does come up the Devs are on top of it right away for the most part.
So, I actually hope they stay with what they are currently doing.
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Who says we couldn't do local content well 
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I'm not saying you can't do local content well. However, there are many papercut-type projects that I would love to see addressed with regard to Channels' current feature set rather than time and effort being put towards new major features.
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I would rather Channels stay focused on what it was initially designed for. Whenever products start supporting too large a feature set, quality tends to dip and addressing issues tends to suffer also.
There's something to be said for applications handling very specific functionality, very well.
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In my experience with residential clients who use Apple TV, I have found that the most widely accepted pairing of applications for local media content is Channels (for live/DVR OTA programming) and Infuse (for ripped movies and TV shows). The Channels UI resonates extremely well with all members of a family for ease of use, as does the Infuse UI.
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I'd love a one-stop-shop - my whole movie and TV library + channels DVR!
I use both Channels and Plex. And while I much prefer using Channels over Plex, in terms of the UI and overall experience, there are still too many things I'd like to see the Channels devs focus on before taking on the task of having to support so many new things. Just take a gander at all the feature requests in this forum, and you'll see how many have not yet been worked on (and I'm referring to 'valid' requests, not even the pie-in-the-sky requests).
I'd say you're looking at the wrong level. Choose an ecosystem you like, then Channels slots into that as your "broadcast TV" provider, either live or as a DVR.
If you like the overall Channels look+feel, then probably AppleTV is the right choice for you. That how I do things; Channels running on a Mac Mini, and viewed via AppleTV. Movies can be viewed on that same AppleTV via appropriate providers (Kanopy, Hoopla, bought through the iTunes Store, ...)
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Oh, to add to the above. A lot of people seem to care about having a stored library of movies, rather than streaming. You can also do that via the AppleTV system I'm describing, just drop the movies into iTunes on the Mac Mini, then use the "Computers" app (the orange one) on the AppleTV home screen to connect to iTunes on the Mac Mini and play.
(This is all much easier to do, and less clumsy, than it sounds.)
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