Roku CEO: Cord cutters creating opportunities
Roku will soon offer users premium video subscription services as it continues to expand its streaming service.
“Now in one place, in the Roku Channel, as well as all that free content, if you want, a customer can sign up for channels like Showtime or Stars or NOGGIN and get all that content in one convenient place with one bill,” said Roku CEO Anthony Wood to FOX Business’ Charles Payne on “Varney & Co.” on Thursday.
With almost 24 million active accounts and growth projections of 40 percent year over year, Roku is the leading streaming platform in the United States, according to Wood.
Aside from providing a “much better experience” for consumers, he said, streaming also saves money.
“Although the bundle hasn’t completely broken yet, it is starting to fray,” he said. “And so with premium subscriptions on the Roku Channel… there’s no base package like there is in cable subscriptions... the base package, if you will, is free and they just pay for the ones they want to watch.”
Wood added that streaming is also creating different opportunities for companies.
“It’s creating new businesses like Roku and it’s creating Netflix and internet-only streaming services, for example, and new distribution channels,” he said. “And it’s causing a lot of existing businesses to rethink… [what their strategy is] going forward and you’re seeing that show up in things like mergers and acquisitions.”
Some mega-media mergers, included Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets and Comcast’s $38.8 billion offer for Sky last year.
21st Century Fox is the parent of FOX Business and Fox News.