Roku acquires exclusive rights to Quibi’s programming
By Ariba Bhuvad
Quibi was the little streaming service that couldn’t…and then could. Roku has officially acquired the rights to Quibi’s programming.
After shutting its doors just a few months ago, mobile-only streaming service Quibi is back from the dead, thanks to Roku. Deadline reports that the digital media player company has officially acquired the exclusive global rights to Quibi’s portfolio of shows, with the exception of some daily news shows.
In my opinion, many of these series were underrated, so I’m glad they’ll get another chance. For any Liam Hemsworth fans out there, Most Dangerous Game is worth a watch. Murder House Flip, about folks getting their creepy homes renovated, was fun. I’m also hoping to see more of When The Streetlights Go On, which was definitely the best show Quibi had. I could do without Punkd, which absolutely failed to live up to its MTV predecessor, but I won’t be surprised if Roku keeps it around for the ridiculousness of it all.
More than the shows themselves, it seems like Roku was pulled in by the stellar actors involved in many of them, including Hemsworth, Idris Elba, Anna Kendrick, Kevin Hart and more. “We preserved all of what was in the existing agreements,” said Roku VP of Programming Rob Holmes. “We’re excited about that. It’s great, high-quality, top talent and high-quality content.”
"It’s the same availability of content, the same presentation of content. But as we spent a bunch of time with it, it really works, but they’re just TV episodes. I think their premise was, you have 10 minutes, you would watch it. Our view is, this is TV, someone’s going to spend half an hour or an hour or two hours watching it because it’s just that compelling. You don’t usually see content like this for free in streaming."
Quibi was always aiming to reach folks aged 18-35, which is already a base that exists for Roku. In that context, acquiring Quibi and its content seemed like a safe bet. But we will have to see in the coming months and years how this decision will play out for them.
Quibi shows will be available on Roku late this year, free with advertising.
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