Roku to rebrand Quibi content as “Roku Originals” Months after it acquired some 75 Quibi shows and documentaries, Roku is rebranding the collapsed streamer’s content as Roku Originals.
That name will also be used for future programming on its . April 21, 2021
Months after it acquired some 75 Quibi shows and documentaries, Roku is rebranding the collapsed streamer’s content as Roku Originals.
That name will also be used for future programming on its free, ad-supported platform The Roku Channel. Additional details on the launch of Roku Originals are expected to be shared in May.
The news comes just a month after it was reported that Brian Tannenbaum formerly senior content executive, alternative and unscripted programming lead at Quibi had joined Roku to head up alternative content.
Remember
Quibi? It was a magical streaming service where everything was very short! Also, it failed miserably. In January, Roku picked up the library of Quibi titles, but rather than keep the Quibi name, Roku is rebranding everything they purchased as Roku Originals. And thus I think we can finally drive the final nail into Quibi’s coffin. So long, Quibi. You tried your best.
I feel bad for Quibi. To be clear: I don’t feel bad for Quibi’s founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is obscenely wealthy and can do anything he wants. But I do feel a little bad about the whole Quibi experiment, in which the streaming service tried to push short-form content on people. The service had bad press from the start, and the name – which was short for “quick bites” – didn’t much help matters. Then there was the general approach: Quibi was meant to be a streaming service for people on the go; a streamer with 10 minute shows you could watch on your way to work or your lunch break. As ex
Former Quibi unscripted exec Brian Tannenbaum heads to Roku Creative exec Brian Tannebaum has landed at The Roku Channel, ostensibly picking up the reins from his time at the shuttered short-form streamer Quibi.
As Realscreen reported in January, Roku acquired Quibi’s catalog . March 12, 2021
Creative exec Brian Tannebaum has landed at The Roku Channel, ostensibly picking up the reins from his time at the shuttered short-form streamer Quibi.
As
Realscreen reported in January, Roku acquired Quibi’s catalog of some 75 shows and documentaries to stream on its Roku Channel. The manufacturer of the Roku digital media player has the exclusive global distribution rights to the shows, and will make the content available for free on an ad-supported basis.
It’s official:
Roku.
As previously reported, Roku has acquired exclusive global rights to 75 of the now-defunct streaming service’s shows in a deal that
The Wall Street Journal says was priced at “significantly less” than $100 million. The content will arrive on Roku’s in-house
Roku Channel later this year.
Deadline notes that the acquisition marks Roku’s biggest move yet into original programming, and comprises most of Quibi’s library including the
Liam Hemsworth-starring
Most Dangerous Game and horror home improvement series
Murder House Flip aside from select daily news shows. As negotiated by Quibi, rights for the shows will revert back to producers after seven years even after they transition to Roku. Quibi’s infrastructure and technology are not a part of the deal.
If anything heralded the arrival of a year like no other, it was the unmistakable screech of
Cats at the box office. Tom Hooper’s cinematic adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s bonkers feline musical may have officially arrived in December, but it was really the first major flop of 2020. Instead of ascending to the Heaviside layer, the film quietly died in an alleyway, the Jellicle cats dragging in less than $75 million worldwide. Me-ouch. In early 2020, it was the ultimate film gag – from the hasty re-edit to remove Judi Dench’s human hands, to stars Rebel Wilson and James Corden poking fun at the terribleness of their own movie at the Oscars (much to the chagrin of the visual effects artists who raced to complete those Digital Fur Technology shots in time for its release). Cause or correlation, either way Cats marked the turning point at which the entire world suddenly tumbled down the Darkest Timeline. And if millions of online cat videos have taught us anything, it’s t