I wrote about how Paramount chaos is spooking showrunners, the three big exec showdowns to come in a Paramount-WBD merger, and streamers’ scramble to get series back on air faster. I’m lesley.goldberg@theankler.com
Fox has sort of entered the Streaming Wars.
In a deal that came as a shock to much of the industry, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch on Monday announced a $22 billion deal to acquire Roku, the leading streaming video distributor and hardware firm that founder Anthony Wood originally started inside Netflix back in 2007.
The deal would give Fox the ability to market originals (like The Masked Singer, Animal Control), Fox News and Fox Sports, as well as programming from Tubi, directly to the 100 million subscribers who see Roku’s home screen the moment they power on their connected televisions. Both Fox and Roku have blessed the acquisition, which still needs to clear regulatory hurdles before an expected close in the first half of 2027.
And inside the eventual combined company, the deal sets up thorny leadership questions: What happens to Charlie Collier, the former Fox Entertainment chief who helped acquire Tubi, left for Roku and may now find himself back inside the Murdoch tent? Which divisions take pole position? And who ultimately controls programming, originals, advertising and distribution?
In a call with analysts Monday, Murdoch dubbed Roku and Tubi as being “incredibly complementary.” Roku has 100 million subscribers, while Tubi has 100 million active users (the ad-supported free streaming platform does not require viewers to subscribe), with Murdoch estimating about a third of the audience overlapping. If both platforms were combined today, Fox would have 5.1 percent of total television viewing, per Nielsen, which would leapfrog all streamers save for YouTube (12.5 percent) and Netflix (8.8 percent). According to April research from Parks Associates, Roku is the market leader with 28 percent of the market share of connected televisions, followed by Samsung’s Tizen (23 percent) and Amazon’s Fire TV.
Should the deal close, which is considered likely as it doesn’t appear to raise antitrust concerns, a supersized Fox-Tubi-Roku (Foiku? Roxi?) would not boast the depth of original programming required to be considered a competitor to Netflix, Amazon or a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery, sources say.
Multiple industry observers instead believe the Roku play by Murdoch, who officially prevailed late last year in his family’s Succession-like battle for control of Fox, was designed to provide a greater platform for Fox’s existing assets while also cashing in on the increasing demand for ad-supported streaming.
In case you hadn’t heard, ads are very much back in the streaming business (see the armies of Netflix and YouTube execs headed to Cannes Lions to seal their deals from Upfronts or make new ones), and Murdoch is looking to grow his share of that business without spending big on pricey originals or more sports rights than he can afford. This is what Roku has to offer Fox. (Or might’ve offered Netflix, which, per Semafor, at least kicked the tires of Roku.)
“[The Roku deal] assures Fox a seat at the table going forward and relevance,” says a longtime industry observer. “Roku is in 100 million homes and is the leading operating system in the country; when you turn on your TV, Fox will control it. With a click, they can send you to whatever Fox property is most important — like the World Cup or Fox News — and given the continual amount of messages bombarding people, that’s powerful right now.”
I looked at both the Tubi and Roku businesses and spoke to several sources about the strategy ahead.
Today I’ll tell you:
- How Fox-Roku could become streaming’s new ad machine — without becoming a Netflix rival
- What happens to Tubi, Roku Channel and Fox’s originals strategy after the deal
- Why Roku gives Fox a way to profit from its streaming competitors
- The huge boom in ad-supported streaming over the past year, including one game-changing stat
- How Fox’s in-house studios could win from the roll-up
- The internal politics ahead, including the big question of whether Charlie Collier returns to the Fox fold
- Where the $400 million in synergies could hit first
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