The Quibi streaming service may have been short-lived, but the quick bite content will live on for Roku device owners.
Roku has announced it has purchased the entire Quibi content library featuring episodic TV shows and documentaries.
The streaming device and smart TV maker says the content will be available freely via The Roku Channel to all users in 2021. They will have to put up with a few ads for the privilege, but that’s a small price to pay for some decent content.
In its brief six-month stint as a smartphone-centric streaming service, it offered shows featuring household names like Idris Elba, Kevin Hart, Liam Hemsworth, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Richie, Chrissy Teigen and Lena Waithe.
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In total, 75 shows like #FreeRayshawn, Chrissy’s Court, Die Hart, Dummy, Flipped, Most Dangerous Game, Punk’d, Reno 911! and Survives, amounting to hundreds of hours of content, will be going live on Roku throughout 2021.
The new home for the shows could potentially see a new lease of life for many concepts barely seen on Quibi. If they prove hits among Roku users, it’s possible new series’ could be commissioned. It isn’t clear how much Roku is paying for those shows, but the Wall Street Journal says it’s “significantly less” than $100.
YOU HAVE AWAKENED ME FROM MY SLUMBER! https://t.co/GD99MlkCzj
— Quibi (@Quibi) January 8, 2021
Quibi was shut down in October, just six months after the subscription service launched. The youth-focused service offered all of its content in portrait orientation. Roku viewers will likely be able to watch in the traditional landscape mode because a smart TV app was added last summer.
“Quibi is not succeeding. Likely for one of two reasons: because the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify a standalone streaming service or because of our timing,” founder Jeffrey Katzenberg said. “Unfortunately, we will never know but we suspect it’s been a combination of the two. The circumstances of launching during a pandemic is something we could have never imagined but other businesses have faced these unprecedented challenges and have found their way through it. We were not able to do so.”
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
