As I am writing this, it is late in the evening and I am settling into my hotel in Denver (or technically, 5 miles from Denver’s airport) for this week’s StreamTV show. There will be 2,200+ “streaming leaders” in attendance, with panels covering every aspect of the streaming business.
I already have a staggering number of interviews set up with executives from PBS, DirecTV, Samsung, Comcast and more. Plus all the conversations that will happen along the way. And goat yoga, if I can talk myself into it.
It promises to be a very enlightening conference and I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned throughout the week. Wednesday and Thursday promise to be days that are more than 12 hours long, so you will be getting daily newsletters. But I’m not sure about the timing.
All of this is possible thanks to those of you who have been able to help financially support this newsletter. Doing original reporting like this isn’t cheap, but you’ll learn things you won’t hear anywhere else.
So if you are able to invest in this mission, an annual subscription is a modest $40. Or you can also buy me a coffee or two if that is easier for you.
So buckle down, this is going to be quite a week.
Some Thoughts About That Fox Acquisition of Roku
The news that Fox was acquiring Roku for $22 billion broke just as I was preparing to go to the airport and I had to turn down a few requests to share my thoughts on the deal.
So let’s do it here instead.
I have a lot of very online people lumping this deal with the Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery merger. That this is another example of a very conservative media owner (in this case, the Murdoch family) acquiring another big asset in order to curry favor with the Trump Administration. And I get why some people would say that. Fox Corp. includes the Fox News Channel and both Rupert and his son Lauchlan have been very publicly politically conservative.
But I don’t think that political beliefs or currying political favor are the prime motivating factors in this deal. When you look at the rest of the Fox Corp portfolio - Fox One, Fox Sports, the AVOD platform Tubi, the podcast and media company Red Seat Ventures, Mexican sports broadcasting platform Caliente TV, a one-third interest in Penske Entertainment, parent company of the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the vertical video company Holywater - Fox Corp. has been focused on leaning into what it sees as its non-linear future. It’s been building a portfolio of creator-first properties, as well as nabbing additional sports rights to build up its Fox Sports division.
Yes, it owns traditional media assets such as 26 regional owned-and-operated TV stations as well as the niche broadcast network MyNetwork. But even there, Fox has been strategic. It has invested in what would normally be seen as traditional media assets, but it has focused on properties it can use to build out its content roster. Acquiring gossip/news juggernaut TMZ. Buying Studio Ramsay Global as part of an overall deal with Gordon Ramsay. It’s spending money on the linear business. But instead of trying to M&A its way out of the challenges like Paramount, it is carefully selecting assets that will help it keep its current linear business as healthy as possible.
So why buy Roku? There are a few reasons, some of them more obvious than others. Fox’s approach to Tubi has been near perfect, as it embraces independent films - especially ones directed/produced by blacks - and continues to sign creators to non-exclusive deals. While it’s collection of original mostly unscripted programs is growing, it pales in comparison with what Roku has managed on the original or licensed front.
And Tubi is wildly successful. For the fiscal year 2025, it exceeded $1 billion in revenue. It provides nearly ¼ of Fox’s total advertising business.
But at the end of the day, Tubi is just a free service and Roku is an entire media ecosystem, whose success lives and dies on its advertising business. Roku has nearly 100 million connected households worldwide who are either using one of the Roku-branded smart TVs, a smart TV that uses Roku as its operating system or one of the Roku devices.
Combining Roku’s reach with that of the Fox stations and Tubi would likely make it one of the largest television distributors to American audiences. Combining both the Tubi and Roku ad-tech and data collection would make it a formidable competitor to every other platform - YouTube included.
Roku also owns the mini-live TV service Frndly, and I can see a scenario in which Fox can build out Frendly’s channel offerings with local Fox affiliates and other Fox-owned FAST channels and digital assets.
And let’s not forget Roku’s growing Channels business. This is the business where Roku sells subscriptions to a number of other SVODs, taking a cut of the revenue as well as wrapping that content in a Roku-like UI wrapper. Next to Amazon, Roku has the largest Channels business in the industry and it is also the only one that a company such as Fox would likely have the opportunity to acquire.
So you have a streaming business that would include both Tubi and The Roku Channel. As well as Roku’s Channel business. And the live-TV service Frendly. Along with various other Fox Corp. digital businesses.
That gives it an immense amount of viewing data from users, which it can use to better target and sell premium advertising. With its recently-acquired creator production and management businesses, it can serve as a one-stop shop for creating products that can stream across Tubi, Roku and other digital platforms.
It’s an impressive gamble and I have no idea how it will turn out. But I think if I had billions to spend, I would much rather pick up the Roku business than Warner Bros. Discovery. Yes, well-known IP is nice. But it only gets you so far and to fully monetize it requires a massive amount of content spending.
Fox Corp. isn’t looking to hit home runs. It’s gambling that there is a good business to be built creating singles and doubles. Then selling advertising against those projects. There are fewer huge upsides. But it’s a much more stable, future-looking business.
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The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it. That’s what The Marketing Millennials delivers: real insights, fresh takes, and no fluff. Written by Daniel Murray, a marketer who knows what works, this newsletter cuts through the noise so you can stop guessing and start winning. Subscribe and level up your marketing game.
Odds & Sods
In his newsletter State Of The Screens, Michael Beach argues that FIFA isn’t a sports league, it’s a media company.
‘I am Emperor Caligula, and even I think the White House UFC event is a bit much.”
Top Gear and The Grand Tour’s Jeremy Clarkson continues to build out his Clarkson’s Farm empire with the launch of ‘Only Farmers’, a new platform helping UK farms sell bookable countryside experiences direct to the public, from tastings and pick-your-own days to farm stays and workshops.
And speaking of Clarkson, a choir of 34 working farmers, first put together for a beer ad that was made to be banned, become the first choir ever to win Britain’s Got Talent. The group was first assembled by Jeremy Clarkson’s beer brand Hawkstone, and its agency T&P, for an ad made to be banned: a straight-faced take on the “Flower Duet” from Lakmé, pints in hand, with the lyrics swapped for something no broadcaster would touch.
If you are looking for a way to kill some time as well as remind yourself that you are not as smart as you think you are, check out the online game You Don’t Know Africa.
What Inspires Me
When people ask me about the biggest influences on my writing, they are generally quite surprised by my answer. I grew up reading freewheeling music critics such as Lester Bangs and on the fiction side, Harlan Ellison’s passionate and often unconventional approach had a big impact on how I approached journalism.
But if I had to pick someone who influenced my TV critic career, that’s a tougher call. I’ve been writing online since the late 1990s and for a variety of reasons, I often felt like (and was treated like) an industry outsider. The advantage of that was it gave me a perspective I think really helped to forge my approach to the business.
I was reading the latest post from the iconic television and industry critic Tim Goodman, whose work I have admired since I was living in the Bay Area back in the dinosaur days. And reading his thoughts on his career and where he might be headed, I recognized a kindred spirit and an inspiration for my career that I wasn’t able to articulate until I read passages such as this one:
Unlike most critics, I didn’t just write reviews, I also covered the industry. I could talk to anyone I wanted for a column, for background, for whatever was on my mind, or theirs. Executives, show runners, creators, writers and actors. I had their numbers, many had mine and we’d talk regularly. Part of my deal with THR was that I didn’t have to move to Los Angeles. I wanted to stay in the Bay Area, safe from the surreality, allure, gloss and glad-handing that wasn’t part of what you and I would call real life. I went down for certain events, visited infrequently, participated in the parties, returned to my bubble.
He refers to being “an expert in a dying field,” and it feels that way a lot of time. So I have been laboring to invent a new path for myself and carve out a niche that is distinctive and hopefully, one that readers will find useful.
Go read the entire piece. And subscribe to his newsletter. He is one of the few current (or somewhat retired) television critics I know putting a newsletter that is more than just some reviews and coverage you can read elsewhere. I don’t think I’ll ever be the critic Tim is, but I appreciate that he makes me aspire to that calling.
What’s Coming Tonight And Tomorrow
MONDAY, JUNE 15TH:
Little Sisters Series Premiere (TLC)
The Last Twins (PBS)
The McBee Dynasty Season Premiere (Bravo)
TUESDAY, JUNE 16TH:
A Spark Into a Flame: Hamilton & Hip Hop (Disney+)
America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders Season Premiere (Netflix)
Becoming Katharine Graham (PBS)
Lakefront Bargain Hunt Renovation Season Premiere (Magnolia)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17TH:
Alone Season Premiere (History)
Clarkson's Farm Season Five Finale (Prime Video)
5th Annual Las Culturistas Culture Awards (Bravo/Peacock)
Million Dollar Nannies Series Premiere (Freeform/Hulu)
Never Change (Hulu)
OG Stories Series Premiere (BET)
Outlast: The Jungle Season One Finale (Netflix)
Outside Tonight Series Premiere (YouTube)
Sugar Season Two Premiere (Apple TV)
The Kimberley: Australia's Wild West Series Premiere (PBS)
The Season Series Premiere (Hulu)
The Simpsons: Extreme Makeover Homer Edition (Disney+)
Swamp Patrol Series Premiere (A&E)
Widow's Bay Season One Finale (Apple TV)
Your Fault: London (Prime Video)