Roku Lands Rights to 75+ Quibi Shows, Will Stream Them for Free

Quibi lasted only seven months as a standalone service

Roku/Quibi

Roku and Quibi have officially struck a deal that will send 75+ Quibi shows to the streaming device’s The Roku Channel. They’ll be made available for free.

The Roku Channel is available to anyone with access to the Roku platform, which is about 62 million Americans.

Technically, following an internal restructuring at Quibi, Roku acquired Quibi Holdings, LLC — that’s the company that holds all of Quibi’s content distribution rights.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Here’s hoping Quibi series on Roku fares better than Quibi series on Quibi: Jeffrey Katzenberg’s radical short-form streaming service for mobile consumption shut down after only seven months.

“The most creative and imaginative minds in Hollywood created groundbreaking content for Quibi that exceeded our expectations,” Katzenberg said on Friday. “We are thrilled that these stories, from the surreal to the sublime, have found a new home on The Roku Channel.”

“Quibi championed some of the most original ideas and inventive storytelling, and I’m so proud of what I was able to create for the platform,” said Veena Sud, creator, writer, director and executive producer of the popular Quibi series “The Stranger.” “I’m so excited to now be able to share this thriller with millions of streamers on The Roku Channel.”

The addition of Quibi’s content, which are each no longer than 10 minutes in length, helps Roku bolster its own ad-supported app, The Roku Channel. Quibi’s library marks first exclusive programming deal.

Quibi, led by Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, debuted in April but failed to gain any kind of foothold with customers. It shut down in December. Unlike other streaming services, Quibi offered short-form series and movies split up into “quick bites” that were designed to be viewed on mobile devices.

Quibi’s deals with its content producers were atypical of other platforms, in that the creators owned their stuff. Quibi’s deals allowed for the service to feature those shows on its service for seven years.

Roku content includes series like Anna Kendrick’s “Dummy,” “Most Dangerous Game” starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz, as well as Antoine Fuqua’s “#FreeRayshawn,” which scored a pair of Emmy wins.

Talks of the Quibi-Roku deal were first reported by the Wall Street Journal this past weekend.

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