FOX Buys Roku in $22 Billion Streaming Shakeup

It was recently announced that FOX Corporation is buying Roku for roughly $22 billion. This is one of the biggest shakeups the streaming industry has seen in years.

The Roku Deal at a Glance

FOX is paying $160 per Roku share, a mix of $96 in cash plus FOX stock. FOX shareholders will own about 73% of the combined business, Roku shareholders the rest. The deal should close in the first half of 2027, pending approval.

FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch called it “a defining moment,” pairing “the leader in live news and sports with the leading connected TV platform.”

Roku’s CEO Anthony Wood said the following:

“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.”

What Changes for Roku Owners?

Nothing right away. The deal won’t close until 2027, so your Roku device, apps, and remote keep working exactly as they do now. You don’t need to do anything.

FOX’s free service Tubi will eventually merge with The Roku Channel, forming one of the largest free streaming libraries in the country. That likely means more free shows and movies in one place, though it also means more of your viewing habits feeding a single advertising machine.

Why We’ve Never Recommended Roku

We’ve held off on recommending Roku to our audience for years, and the reasons haven’t changed.

Roku runs a closed operating system, as you can’t side-load apps the way you can on a Fire TV Stick or an Android TV/Google device. So you’re stuck with whatever Roku allows.

The bigger problem is the ads. Roku’s home screen has become a billboard of sponsored rows and autoplay video that serve shareholders far more than the person holding the remote. That ad-first approach has also made Roku users a target, so it pays to watch out for fake Roku support scams.

If you want full control of your streaming setup today, an Android TV/Google TV device is still your best bet long term.

Could FOX Actually Improve Roku?

Here’s our angle, and it’s where we’re cautiously hopeful. FOX now needs Roku’s 100+ million households to watch FOX sports and news, not bounce off a cluttered home screen.

That gives FOX a real reason to clean up the ad load and open the platform. Do that, and Roku could finally become a device we don’t hate.

But we’re not betting on it. Murdoch pointed to “significant” advertising upside in the deal, so the ad-heavy model that frustrates users may only get worse.

Final Thoughts from Troy

A $22 billion takeover of the biggest streaming player in the U.S. shows how valuable your living-room screen has become. We’ll be watching to see whether FOX makes Roku better for viewers or just better for the balance sheet.

For now our advice still holds: Avoid Roku and use an Android TV/Google TV device for an affordable and better streaming experience.

For more details on this story, refer to the official press release from FOX and the report from AP News.

What do you think about FOX buying Roku? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

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