Roku Buys Quibi Content For Less Than $100 Million (deadline.com) 13
phalse phace writes: After days of advanced talks to sell Quibi's content library to Roku, the companies have finally reached a deal. According to Deadline, Roku will acquire most of Quibi's content for less than $100 million.
"The acquisition covers most of the Quibi library, but some daily news shows are not part of the package," reports Deadline. "A key draw for Roku is the talent, a roster including Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen and Lena Waithe. The lineup includes titles like Most Dangerous Game, Dummy and Murder House Flip. The programming will be available for free starting later this year. Shows will have advertising, as they did on the $5-a-month Quibi service, and they will be housed on the Roku Channel." Earlier today, Roku says it sold more smart TVs in the U.S. in 2020 than competitors like Samsung, LG and Vizio, becoming the biggest smart TV platform in North America.
"The acquisition covers most of the Quibi library, but some daily news shows are not part of the package," reports Deadline. "A key draw for Roku is the talent, a roster including Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen and Lena Waithe. The lineup includes titles like Most Dangerous Game, Dummy and Murder House Flip. The programming will be available for free starting later this year. Shows will have advertising, as they did on the $5-a-month Quibi service, and they will be housed on the Roku Channel." Earlier today, Roku says it sold more smart TVs in the U.S. in 2020 than competitors like Samsung, LG and Vizio, becoming the biggest smart TV platform in North America.
I mean, I'm glad it didn't all go into the trash (Score:4, Interesting)
Some folks probably did good work on some of that stuff. It wasn't the content that was the problem, it was...everything around the content.
I just think it's pretty damn funny that they spent 1.75 BILLION dollars of other people's money and the stuff that remains isn't worth 1/10 of that.
I would actually be really interested to know what they spent to create/acquire that content - I think it might be instructive to know that.
Re: (Score:1)
I agree, would actually like to see a few of the shows that were on the service - but not even worth getting a Roku to check out. Hopefully there will be some other way to see them eventually, maybe Roku will sub-license out the content to other services.
I also think some might be good enough that other streaming services would re-make the shows, or make other seasons...
Re: (Score:1)
Although I wholeheartedly support the preservation of media, most of the Quibli library is going to prove worthless. We're talking about shows explicitly designed for people without any attention span. Combined with the slight problem that few people ever watched any of the content, you have a library that will age fast, age terribly, and create absolutely no nostalgia.
The one possible exception would be if they had good animated content. Animation ages more gracefully and a show's fans can have pretty long
Re: (Score:2)
the stuff that remains isn't worth 1/10 of that.
The stuff that remains isn't worth $100. How did they get the "million" into the total?
Never heard of any of those names. (Score:1)
Japanese rocks buy something that quibbles?
Maybe it's just because I stopped using pointless entertainment to project my failed existence onto imaginary lives, and got an actual life of my own.
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Cool! What's the name of your YouTube channel?
Re: Never heard of any of those names. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I know what you mean, I got a life recently, too. I thought it would just going to be a little project for myself while everything is closed down. Well, much to my surprise, I think my little hobby has turned into a full-on trend. Everybody in my neighborhood has put up pictures wanting the same life, and some people are offering serious money for information on where to find one. Having this life has been really fun, but the money would really help, too (I've been trying to plan a vacation for when the
Meh... (Score:3)
I have owned a roku device for 5 or 6 years. I don't think I've tuned into the "Roku Channel" even once that entire time. So they've purchased a catalog of 2nd rate content and will show it with commercials only to people who have one of their devices or who own one of the lower-end "smart" Chinese TV's that use the Roku software platform.
Good luck with that.
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The purpose of a Roku device IMHO is a device to watch random other providers on demand/catchup services, and have one device that encompasses everything.
So here in the UK it 's the only device that will let you watch all the broadcast catchup (iplayer, ITV hub, All4, My5 etc.) along with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV and NowTV (that's Sky's ondemand service so lots of HBO and some of their own stuff such as Discovery of Witches some Discworld etc).
I could not give a flying fig about the "Roku Ch
Paid advertising (Score:2)
Shows will have advertising, as they did on the $5-a-month Quibi service
They had advertising and you had to pay for it? No wonder they went out of business.
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Cable TV has had advertising since its inception and people pay upwards of $100 a month for it. Quibi's problem was way overestimating the demand for 10-minute chunked video. The whole horizontal or vertical thing was just a gimmick.