Fox now owns Roku and promises its TV platform will stay open to rival streamers

Roku, the TV platform people use to pick what to stream, now belongs to a broadcaster. Fox has closed its $22 billion purchase of Roku, putting the software that runs on TVs and sticks in more than 100 million American households under the same roof as Fox Sports, Fox News and Tubi.

The detail that matters most for viewers is a promise rather than a number. Both companies say Roku will stay an open platform for every streaming service, including the ones that compete with Fox’s own apps. That openness is what made Roku the neutral home screen for rival streamers in the first place, so it is the part of the deal, first announced in June, that the rest of the industry will watch.

We started Roku… to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn’t change today.

Anthony Wood, founder, Roku

Wood is not leaving. He joins the Fox board and becomes co-chair of a new division, Fox Digital Platforms, which groups Roku with Tubi, the Fox One streaming service and Red Seat Ventures. Paul Cheesbrough runs it as co-chair and chief executive.

For shareholders, the terms are $95.30 in cash plus 0.9799 shares of Fox Class A stock for every Roku share. Former Roku investors end up with about 26% of Fox, and Fox’s existing holders keep about 74%. Roku stock stops trading on the Nasdaq as of the closing day.

Fox expects roughly $400 million a year in cost savings within two years. Fox itself says the deal gives it a route to bring its live sports, news and local stations to Roku’s viewers.

What Fox has not spelled out is how “open” will look in practice: whether rival apps keep the same placement on the home screen and in the Roku Channel, and whether ad deals with other networks change. Those answers will show up on screens long before they appear in a press release.

Reported by Fox Corporation, The Verge. Compiled with AI tools.