Roku Close To Deal To Acquire Quibi Content: Report

Roku Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire the content catalog of the infamously short-lived short-form streaming service Quibi, according to Wall Street Journal sources.

Neither company commented on the story, and WSJ stressed that the deal could still fall through. 

Acquiring rights to Quibi's content library would advance Roku's push into content via its ad-supported Roku Channel app.

Roku has said it has no plans to produce its own original content, but having exclusive rights to Quibi's could add another incentive for consumers to buy Roku streaming devices. 

Quibi’s original shows, featuring episodes between four and 10 minutes long, include star vehicles such as “Survive,” featuring “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner (above); “Most Dangerous Game,” starring Liam Hemsworth; and “Flipped,” starring Will Forte and Kaitlin Olson.

Other content includes numerous reality shows and unscripted shows including “Daily Essentials,” offering sports and news shows.

Quibi -- launched in April 2020 by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman and backed by $1.75 million from entertainment companies and other investors, as well as more than $150 million in advertising commitments -- was shut down just six months later, after failing to gain a sufficient numbers of subscribers.

According to various reports, prior to Quibi's demise, Katzenberg tried to sell rights to its content to companies including NBCUniversal and Facebook.  

1 comment about "Roku Close To Deal To Acquire Quibi Content: Report".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, January 4, 2021 at 1:23 p.m.

    It all depends on the price. If the Quibi "library" can be had for a relative pittance, that may not be a bad deal for Roku as having lots of stuff one can choose from as a viewer is never a bad thing---providing the mechanism for making such choices is made easy for the subscriber.

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