The Wall Street Journal on Monday:
Fox Corp. said it is acquiring Roku in a deal valued at around
$25 billion, making a major bet on the future of ad-supported
streaming. The deal — Fox’s largest to date — brings together a media
company known for its live news and sports programming with the
biggest provider of streaming platforms for connected TVs.It will add scale to Fox’s streaming business, currently home to
free, ad-supported streaming service Tubi, which the company
bought for $400 million in 2020, and subscription-based Fox One
and Fox Nation.In addition to distributing other streaming services through
connected TVs and devices, Roku has its own ad-supported Roku
Channel. The combined company will better compete with the likes
of Amazon.com and Netflix for ad dollars.
I’m late to comment on this, but this seems stupid. Roku sucks. I know they’ve got a 25 percent or so share of the smart TV interface market, but no one is attached to Roku. The entirety of their market share is people who don’t care. That’s not worth $25 billion. Shit platforms seldom last, and the ones that do last achieve monopolies. I think Roku’s share is going to slip, not grow.
