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Streaming platform provider Roku has reached an agreement that will see it being acquired by Fox Corporation in the USA for £16.4bn ($22bn) – reflecting a mix of cash and Fox stocks. The strategic move is largely designed to scale Fox’s digital advertising and content distribution in the US market, but it may eventually have impacts on Roku UK too.
According to the announcement, the transaction will combine FOX’s sports, news and entertainment content and its Tubi streaming service, with Roku’s connected TV platform, The Roku Channel, first-party data and direct relationship with more than 100 million global streaming households.
The new “scaled next-generation media and technology company” that will be created by this is said to be “committed to continuing to operate Roku as an open, partner-friendly platform and to the continued ubiquitous distribution of FOX content“, while also becoming the third-largest player in U.S. television by share of viewing.
Assuming they can get this deal past the USA’s regulators, then the transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2027.
Lachlan K. Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation, said:
“This is a defining moment for FOX, and a natural extension of the deliberate and focused strategy we have been executing for nearly a decade. In 2019, we reoriented the company around live news and sports. In 2020, we acquired Tubi and under our stewardship it has become one of the most successful businesses in streaming.
Today, we take the next step: bringing together the most valuable live content portfolio in video consumption with the preeminent streaming platform through which America watches it. This combination will transform the scope of our company into high-growth verticals and yield a step change in our overall growth profile.”
Anthony Wood, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Roku, said:
“Over the past two decades, we’ve built Roku into the leading TV streaming platform, reaching more than 100 million households globally and reshaping how people discover and enjoy entertainment. I’m incredibly proud of what our team has built, and the combination with FOX is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our vision, scale faster and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners and advertisers.
That’s why our Board of Directors unanimously determined after concluding its strategic review process that this transaction offers a significant premium to Roku shareholders while also providing them with the opportunity to participate in the compelling future upside of the combined company. I couldn’t be more excited about what we’ll accomplish together.”
Fox’s focus above is clearly on what benefits this can bring to their core market in the USA, but we’re naturally more interested in what it might mean for the UK platform. Initially nothing is going to change in the UK, although it’s reasonable to assume that over time Fox may wish to raise the profile of its own content to UK users and perhaps find a way to combine Tubi with ‘The Roku Channel’. Fox could also seek to do more with advertising on the platform, including hoovering up more customer data to support targeted ads etc.
Consumers in the UK also tend to be a bit more wary of the Murdoch empire, which may discourage some from adopting Roku UK. Question marks also remain over how this might impact Roku’s future relationships with rival streaming services and apps. We’ve seen in the past how disagreements between big media groups can sometimes cause Apps not to be appear on certain platforms, while showing on others. Time will tell.