Last week, the entertainment industry had been buzzing with the news that streaming enabler Roku was in advanced talks to acquire now-defunct streaming platform Quibi‘s content library. Well, that deal is now done and final. Roku has acquired Quibi’s content library for its own budding streaming channel. The terms of the deal are as yet undisclosed.
It is a strategic move on the part of Roku. By snapping up Quibi’s content library, Roku has bought itself a readymade content slate as it looks to shore up its free, ad-supported streaming channel. Quibi has a full slate of high quality shows that were already streaming on the platform before it went kaput. It also has a bank of ready shows just waiting to find a home to begin streaming. The deal gives Roku complete ownership of more than 75 shows from high-profile content creators.
Veena Sud’s The Stranger, Liam Hemsworth’s dystopian show Most Dangerous Game, Sophie Turner’s disaster survival drama, Survive, Sam Raimi’s anthology series 50 Shades of Fright, Lawrence Fishburne’s #FreeRayshawn, Jasiel Correia’s Run This City, LeBron James’ I Promise, were some of the popular content on Quibi before it shut down. Included in the slate of content that’ll change hands from Quibi to Roku are upwards of a dozen shows that were shot and completed for Quibi but not released before its shutdown.
Quibi was the brainchild of founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, who previously co-founded DreamWorks Animation, and before that, was with Disney Studios for ten years. Meg Whitman is the CEO of the new entity. She had earlier headed eBay and Hewlett Packard as CEO.
Quibi had managed to raise $1.75 billion, which enabled it to recruit big names such as Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Lena Waithe, Jennifer López and Catherine Hardwick for its content library. However, the streamer failed to find takers and ultimately shut down in December.
“We are thrilled that these stories, from the surreal to the sublime, have found a new home on The Roku Channel,” Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement to the media.
Roku is currently available in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.