• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 9, 2020

A day after a report said Roku -- somewhat surprisingly -- wanted to amp up TV efforts around producing high-cost original programming, the company refuted the news.

“We aren’t creating any original shows and don’t have any plans to do so at this time,” a Roku spokesperson told Bloomberg.

This makes sense -- especially in a marketplace awash in original premium programming. Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+ and others are spending anywhere from $4 billion to $10 billion a year on original programming.

Few can join that club. Premium original programming isn’t for the meek.

Jumping into the big programing game these days can be tough. Companies need to have staying power, promotional wherewithal, as well as depth, to fight through the scores of individual TV series and/or movies.

Essentially, Roku, right now, exists as a modern pay-TV provider, the next generation of  traditional cable, satellite and telco pay TV providers.

In the past, those pay TV providers only tiptoed into offering original programming. Big profit margins and strong subscriber staying power from subscriptions was enough. Few needed to take the risk of major programming costs.

Think about what DirecTV did with its Audience channel. Even more recently, what Charter Communications started with its Spectrum Originals effort.

Charter launched ts first original TV series in May 2019 with the former NBC drama pilot “L.A.’s Finest.” This year, it offered new episodes of former NBC hit series “Mad About You,” starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt, to some modest acclaim.

But overall, this is a modest effort -- with some six shows available, on all devices, including streaming and its cable TV systems.

While Comcast Corp. made a billion-dollar acquisition decision when it came to buying NBCUniversal in 2013, few pay TV providers traditionally dive into original programming.

Roku has seen rocketing success for its set-top box/smart TV app interface, now at 40 million users, as well as sky-high gains to its stock price.

More recently, it has touted growing revenues from advertising sales — revenue coming from its own Roku Channel, as well as selling ad inventory as a part of carriage deals it makes with third-party app/network platforms.

Who needs to get into all TV-related revenue businesses anyway? New media darlings can’t be like old media mogul companies.