Roku’s Charlie Collier defends Fox deal as 'distribution war' escalates

The Fox-Roku merger signals a shift from the content arms race to a distribution war, where controlling the entry point is as valuable as the programming. By acquiring Roku, Fox bypasses the need for a massive premium SVOD budget while gaining first-party data to compete with Google and Amazon. For the broader ecosystem, this creates a vertically integrated gatekeeper that own-brands its content on 100 million home screens. Watch for how other OEMs like Samsung and Vizio adjust their ad-tech partnerships to counter Fox's new data-rich distribution layer.

The acquisition, announced in mid-June 2026, values Roku at $160 per share in a cash-and-stock deal expected to close in the first half of 2027. Per Fox Corp filings, the combined entity will rank as the third-largest player in U.S. television by viewership share, trailing only YouTube and Disney. This move is the first major acquisition for CEO Lachlan Murdoch since consolidating control of the media empire, aiming to integrate Fox’s live sports and news – including the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup – directly into the OS layer. For Fox, the deal is a strategic response to the decline of linear television, which Nielsen reported fell below 50% of total U.S. viewing in early 2026.

To maintain Roku's value as an open platform for rival apps like Netflix and Disney+, Fox has committed to a 'partner-friendly' management style. However, internal projections suggest the merger could yield $400 million in cost synergies, largely by streamlining ad sales across Tubi and The Roku Channel. The deal also follows a period of retail-driven shifts in the hardware market; per Omdia (June 2026), Roku has faced increased competition from Walmart after the retailer’s purchase of Vizio and its subsequent promotion of the Vizio OS on its private-label 'Onn' television sets, which previously relied on Roku software.

Industry analysts note that Fox is primarily buying an ad-tech engine. Emarketer reported in June 2026 that the acquisition could more than double Fox’s annual connected TV ad revenue. By leveraging Roku’s automatic content recognition (ACR) data, Fox can now provide the kind of targeting and performance measurement that Collier argues has become too expensive on social and search platforms. This puts Fox in direct competition with the walled gardens of Big Tech, offering a high-reach television alternative for brands seeking incremental scale.