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Summary
- Roku acquired Frndly TV for $185 million.
- Frndly TV delivers live TV channels, along with on-demand channels, and cloud DVR service.
- Frndly TV will remain a paid service and aims to increase subscribers with Roku’s support.
The streaming landscape has changed quite a bit over the past decade, with so many different companies getting involved in order to secure their piece of the pie. So it doesn’t come as a surprise when we hear about acquisitions, since there’s only so much content out there.
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With that said, Roku has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Frndly TV. The subscription service currently offers its customers access to live TV channels, on-demand videos and its cloud DVR service. The best part is that it doesn’t cost all that much, starting at just $6.99 per month.
To be honest, you’ve probably never heard of Frndly TV
Now, despite this acquisition, not much is really changing, as Frndly TV will still be offered as a paid service, even for those that use Roku as their primary streaming device. In addition, it will continue to be available as a service on other streaming devices as well. Of course, things are just in the preliminary stages for now, but Roku expects the deal to close sometime in the second quarter of 2025.
As far as the numbers, Roku purchased Frndly TV for a total of $185 million, with $75 million of that being tied to the brand meeting certain goals over the next two years. As far as goals, the brand intends to up its subscriber count with the help of Roku. Of course, this growth isn’t going to come easy and will be an uphill battle the whole way through.
The brand will be competing with other streaming services like YouTube TV, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, Netflix, and so many more. Even outside the usual players, brands like LG, Samsung, Pluto, Tubi, and others are all offering free live TV services as well. That could make it really hard to compete.
It goes without saying, but the competition is pretty tough in this space, since the consumer just has so many different choices for streaming services. If you’ve been thinking about signing up for something new, we recommend checking out some of our favorite streaming services.
