On May 20th, Roku is dropping 30 shows that it recently acquired from the now-defunct streaming service Quibi as ‘Roku Originals.’
The content will be free with ads on the Roku Channel, the company’s ad-supported streaming service that launched in Canada in 2018, a year after hitting the United States.
During a recent press briefing, Roku said that roughly 53 million households watched content on the Roku Channel last quarter and that it expects that number to keep rising. With this many eyes on the channel and these new shows coming to the platform, Roku seems to really be striving to be taken seriously as an original content provider.
While Roku bought 75 titles from Quibi, it plans to launch the content in several waves. The first wave includes 30 titles, with the second wave coming at some point this summer. The company also confirmed that five titles that were never released on Quibi are coming at a later date.
The first batch of shows are as follows:
- #FreeRayshawn
- About Face
- Bad Ideas with Adam Devine
- Barkitechture
- Big Rad Wolf
- Blackballed
- Centerpiece
- Chrissy’s Court
- Cup of Joe
- Die Hart
- Dishmantled
- Dummy
- Fight Like a Girl
- Flipped
- The Fugitive
- Gayme Show
- Iron Sharpens Iron
- Last Looks
- Let’s Roll with Tony Greenhand
- Most Dangerous Game
- Murder House Flip
- Murder Unboxed
- Nightgowns
- Prodigy
- Punk’d
- Reno 911!
- Royalties
- Shape of Pasta
- Thanks a Million
- You Ain’t Got These
Quibi shows we’re filmed in a 16:9 aspect ratio, making them suitable to watch on your TV. Roku says it has no current plans to release the shows in the portrait mode they were available in through Quibi’s mobile app.
Notably, #FreeRayshawn won a pair of Emmy awards for Lawrence Fishburn’s and Jasmine Cephas Jones’ performances. You can watch content on the Roku Channel on any Roku streaming device or Roku-enabled TV.
If you don’t happen to own one already, the streaming company says it plans to put several of its streaming devices on sale on May 20th to celebrate the first Roku streaming device ever sold.
The 1080p Roku Express will be discounted by $5, bringing its cost down to $35, the 4K Roku Streaming Stick+ is dropping $10, making it $60, and the Roku Streambar is coming to $160 following a $30 discount.
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