Fox to buy Roku

As a long-time[1] customer of Roku I am tentatively extremely pessimistic.

I have always been unhappy with Roku's decision to get involved in streaming content at all, because it could potentially cut into their service-agnostic architecture. Bad enough in my mind that they had in-platform ads instead of just charging for hardware, but way worse when they are actively competing with streaming services.

And now it looks like it has happened -- a large content provider wants to buy the company, and while I hope that they can at least notionally continue to be service-agnostic, the temptation to cheat to favor your own services will always be there an when cost cutting and belt tightening is on the table, that is surely what will happen.

[1] My order for the "Netflix Player by Roku": "CustomerID# 1162 Thank you very much for your Roku order. Your order number is 2472, placed 5/20/2008 at 10:01AM."

Roku's hardware business is only 10% of their revenue now. The vast majority of their income comes from their FAST streaming service, which they promote heavily on their devices.

They haven't been platform agnostic for a while now. Swapping out one streaming owner for another really isn't going to move the needle much.

I may be lambasted for saying this, but I do not believe that Fox (or any large media company, really) should be permitted to purchase direct access to the TV hardware of roughly 30-50% of american households.

Time for the 'Fox News' button on the Roku remote. Truth Social tweets on your screensaver.

A company with the business practices of Fox News I will not buy services or products from. Same with regards to Oracle.

I actually regret buying a Nvidia Shield TV. Yes, software support might be there. But what isn't there is the interface (without advertising, the cancer of the world) it came with. Thanks to Google. Thanks to Google, my children are now forced to see inappropriate advertising when the TV gets powered on.

I had to look to see whether this was NewsCorp Fox or Disney Fox. In the 00s I did some contract work at Fox Filmed Entertainment (the part of the company later bought by Disney) which was introduced during interviews as Fox Filmed Entertainment We Have Nothing To Do With Fox News.

I've already been wanting to get rid of my Roku TVs and boxes for awhile now, they tend to be slow and buggy lately which requires ALOT of restarting.

Before Roku I spent 2005-2018 on various TiVo systems including whole house with minis and the cable-card system. Was thinking of quitting that for awhile, but the Rovi/Macrovision acquisition was definitely the writing on the wall.

Guess it's time to try an Apple TV as it seems like the only semi-premium option available.

A year ago I started moving away from Roku. I think they've always had ads on the home screen which I blocked with a DNS blocklist but the seasonal ad sections that continued popping up in the menu despite my continually blocking them wore on me. I've upgraded to an nvidia shield using projectivy launcher which allows me to set a customized and very clean interface with the just the apps I use and nothing else. I definitely recommend it.

Some alternative sources

- Fox PR: https://www.foxcorporation.com/news/corp-press-releases/2026...

- Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fox-buy-roku-...

I bought a 42" Hisense Roku TV for like $120 with no prior research from Walmart a few years ago when my old plasma finally passed through to the great beyond. The interface was so clean and pleasant to use and there aren't ads stuffed everywhere.

Went to a friend's house and he had a Roku Express player and his was littered with ads and the whole UI was Christmas themed.

Moral of the story is pihole is OP.

I never liked the idea of Roku since I always felt like they could "go away at any moment" since that is all they sold basically.

Fun fact, Roku sells security cameras at Walmart, they're technically rebranded Wyze cameras (look just like them, same hardware) with Roku software on them. If you did buy one of those Roku cameras, maybe a good time to switch off to Wyze if you don't like this direction.

I used Rokus for years (happily) but they slowly began to degrade the experience with ads on their home screen (that were often not appropriate for children). Due to an unrelated project that required me to purchase an AppleTV I was quickly amazed at how much better their product was. Fast and clean. Never going back.

I used to love Roku. I even went through their early developer stuff to play with custom channels. It was clear many years ago that their shift form platform to ad provider was underway. Why can't a company always be amazing at something and just stick to that (looking at you Dropbox)?

I have a Roku TV an dmy setup is simple:

- Disable wifi on Roku TV

- Add Apple TV and connect to router

Ugh, Fox. I recently made the decision to not spend $10.99/month for their FoxOne app to stream World Cup matches. I decided to watch the Telemundo broadcasts instead, even though I don’t speak Spanish, just to not give Fox my money. If I were Roku user, this would definitely cause me to quit being a Roku user. I doubt I’d be the only one, but I also do not believe it will be enough total to be noticeable.

Should we expect the Roku apps for non-Fox content to break? That was kind of the selling point of Roku, that it was relatively streaming platform agnostic, not tied to one of the big players.

Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/fox-roku-deal-f6e564f9?st...

gross, is there any TV is that isn’t Google or Roku that is halfway decent?

Bring back dumb TVs

I remember when Google buying YouTube for $1.6b sounded crazy. And then when then-Facebook Meta bought WhatsApp for 10 times that.

$22b.

Are there any companies left that are not in the decabillion range?

If this happens, our Roku TV is going in the trash. They locked out their customers of their own devices by pushing updated firmware that forced agreement to new terms. They lost my trust during that episode, and this move shows that was the right decision.

Meanwhile, Fox lost my respect decades ago. The idea that they could gain network level access to one of my devices cannot be reconciled with my need to feel secure and safe in my own home.

Anyone wanna take the opportunity to share their favorite brands and models of dumb TVs?

Looks like it’s time to cut my TCL-Roku TV off from the internet forever now.

I wonder how many TV brands that include Roku on their TVs will dump them going forward especially for the non-american markets.

I switched from Roku to Xbox for Plex because of how Roku has degraded, and not only did I get the primary benefit of being off Roku, but I found the Xbox Plex app has not been updated to the terrible new redesign so it was a double win.

Are they just following the Succession plot line now?

So what are the alternatives?

I have mostly Frame TVs and a projector. I always loved the Roku experience, it really felt like the best media player software, they just kept improving it, and having all TVs on the ecosystem made it even better. One app for virtual remotes, bluetooth listening, searching with your phone keyboard, etc.

I don't want to go back to the Frame's software. I really like the Backdrops app and so many other features.

But it just seems like this acquisition can only accelerate the ensh*tification of Roku. They already changed the default home screen a few weeks ago to show recommendations, SO MANY ads, etc and you change it in settings.

But as other commentors have mentioned, now we'll probably have Fox News and Truth Social front and center whether we want it or not.

So many apps have DRM that prevent you from running it yourself in any way. Is there another way that lets you run Netflix, Paramount+, HBO, all the majors without any trouble that is as integrated as Roku, or at least anything heading in that direction?

Timed my move from Roku devices to Apple TV just right it appears.

Time for Graphene based streaming boxes?

Seems like an excellent startup opportunity? Build a clean, no-ads streaming stick with open source firmware upstream of the requisite DRM bits and who wouldn't buy one? Almost like what Roku used to be, and the reason we recommended it, for so many years.

I can't really see this ending well for the end user, however well it does/doesn't end for the stakeholders.

I thought Roku took off due to their focus on the streaming platform itself, and being agnostic to the streaming services that could be accessed via that platform. Having one specific content producer buy that platform feels like it destroys or devalues the USP of the platform, at least from the point of view of the consumer/end-user.

Or is this just another step in the relentless enshittification of all services?

Wonder what they will do with Howdy, their paid service.

The right wing takeover of media continues unchecked.

I'm going to assume now that Fox will ruin Roku. Any suggestions for replacement devices?

So now the same corporation that owns Fox News is going to own Roku? No thanks. Guess it's finally time to switch to a custom Android TV box or Apple TV. Or roll my own, but I've tried that and found it pretty difficult.

As of 10am est their stock is down nearly 20%.

Thankfully, I am Roku free.

Where is anti-trust in this country? Absolutely absurd the levels of media consolidation we’re seeing under billionaires right now.

Ok, so now that Roku is dead, what alternatives do we have?

"Somehow, Roku to become even worse."

WTF? .. yuck

Well, it's been 5 years ... time to switch out my Roku for something better ...

One of the great things about Roku is it's minimal expense ... which means I won't think twice to swap out for anything else.

Further proof that antitrust is dead in the US.

Also note that this gives Fox News viewership data for all Roku devices!

Powell Memorandum (1971) intensifies, with corporate buy out of all society's core media functions by extremist conservatives radically racing ahead.

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Great. Let’s further expand the Murdoch empire. Consolidate, consume, merge, absorb. This never ends poorly for the customer. /s

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