Fox has just dropped a bomb in the streaming war by announcing the purchase of Roku in an operation valued at about $22 billion, a move that mixes content, devices and advertising in the same corporate move. If everything goes as planned, the agreement will give rise to one of the new giants of television and streaming in the United States, with enough weight to make several established players uncomfortable.

What is known about the agreement between Fox and Roku

According to the official announcement, Fox agreed to acquire Roku in a cash-plus-stock transaction that values ​​the streaming company at around $22 billion, including debt. The agreed price is around $160 per share, a combination of about $96 in cash plus about 0.97 Fox class A shares for each Roku share.

When the transaction closes, current Fox shareholders will own approximately 73% percent of the new company while Roku shareholders will control about 27% percent. The boards of directors of both companies have already approved the agreement and the calendar points to a closing in the first half of 2027, still pending regulatory approval and from the shareholders themselves.

To finance the cash component, Fox is relying on a mix of free cash and new debt backed by a bridge loan of nearly $12 billion secured with banks such as Morgan Stanley. It is not a small bet, and just look at the initial market reaction where Fox's shares fell sharply due to the size of the check that the company is willing to sign.

One of the most repeated messages in the joint statement is that Roku will continue to operate as an open platform, that is, it will not become a closed garden that only promotes Fox content. The two companies insist that they will maintain collaboration with other streaming providers and the “widely available” distribution of Fox content, a key detail to reassure both users and current partners.

A new streaming heavyweight in the United States

Where the board really changes is in the scale that Fox gains by adding the Roku ecosystem. The resulting company aspires to become the third largest television player in the United States by audience share, only behind giants such as YouTube, Netflix, Disney Plus or Prime Video according to Nielsen data cited in the statements.

Roku provides direct access to more than 100 million homes that already use their devices, their operating system or televisions with Roku integrated, a privileged gateway to the living room that until now Fox did not control. That base is combined with Fox's content catalog, which includes live news, sports and entertainment, along with Tubi, its free ad-supported streaming platform.

Added to this is The Roku Channel, Roku's free channel that already plays in the same league as Tubi within the FAST segment, that of free services with ads. Integrating Tubi and The Roku Channel under the same umbrella, while controlling the device and operating system that many users use to open Netflix or YouTube, makes Fox more than just an old traditional television group. It is approaching the figure of “gatekeeper” of the connected television, a role that some analysts already attribute to Roku alone and that is now amplified with the muscle of Fox.

The company also talks about about $400 million in annual cost synergies once Roku is integrated, plus the potential for revenue growth from targeted advertising and selling ad inventory on more screens. In a market where almost everyone competes for subscriptions, this ad-based model becomes especially attractive for a Fox that is betting heavily on the digital advertising business.

What changes for users, advertisers and the competition

For the average user who turns on the TV and presses the Roku button, the official speech is reassuring. Fox and Roku assure that the platform will remain service agnostic, with access to Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus, Max and company, without aggressively prioritizing Fox content. In the short term, the change will most likely be noted in more integration of Tubi and The Roku Channel in the interface, cross-recommendations and perhaps new thematic sections around sports and live news powered by Fox.

For advertisers the film is different. The combination of Roku usage data, ad inventory on Tubi and on Roku's own operating system, along with the massive viewership of Fox channels, creates a very difficult package for brands that want to be on the big screen in the living room to ignore. In a context where linear television is losing ground, being able to segment ads on a base of more than 100 million homes means that this agreement is seen as a great shortcut towards the future of connected TV.

The competition cannot look the other way either. Players like Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Paramount or even the big tech companies that already dominate streaming know that they have just gained a rival with direct control over the “first input” of the television and a portfolio of very attractive live content, something that forces them to rethink distribution agreements and advertising strategies. This is not a simple vision of “winners and losers” but rather a rearrangement of the board where Fox stops being just a channel provider and becomes a platform, showcase and ad seller at the same time.

There are also open questions. Regulators and competitors will be attentive to how that power over the Roku platform is managed, to what extent it remains truly open and what impact it has on agreements with other streaming services that today depend on Roku to reach millions of homes. At the same time, Fox itself assumes a high level of risk by taking on debt and paying a relevant premium for Roku, trusting that the growth of the connected television market and digital advertising will offset that bet in the coming years.

If this movement makes anything clear, it is that the battle for the living room is no longer just about having the best exclusive series, but about controlling the device, the platform and the data that exists between the user and all the apps they open on their television. With Roku in the house, Fox begins to play in that league and does so with a move that reconfigures the streaming map in the United States and sends a direct message to the entire sector, the next great streaming war will be fought on the home screen of the television.