Amid a politically divisive and potentially expensive rights renegotiation with the NFL, Fox Corp. has opened up its checkbook in a rather different way.
The Fox Sports parent company said Monday it is acquiring streaming platform Roku in a deal carrying a $22 billion enterprise value. The agreement, the first major deal for Fox since executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch cemented control of the business last year, marks a further investment in streaming for a company that was relatively late to that part of the media business.
Fox, however, intends to blend its own content and the Tubi streaming service it owns with The Roku Channel, a popular entry point for streaming consumers with more than 100 million global streaming households.
In the U.S., Fox, Tubi, and Roku collectively hold a 5.5% market share of the domestic streaming market, according to the most recent Nielsen data. That figure just exceeds the 5.3% that top rival Disney holds. Roku has also sought to position itself as an aid for fans to find live games on disparate platforms and navigate growing media fragmentation.
“The discovery of [our] sports rights can really be assisted with distribution across Roku and discovery through the Roku home screen,” Murdoch said early Monday in an analyst call.
The Fox-Roku deal, involving a mix of cash and stock, is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval and is targeted to close in the first half of 2027.
Football Backdrop
The outlay for Roku, meanwhile, arrives at a delicate time for Fox. The NFL is preparing to reopen each of its domestic rights agreements, and is seeking significant increases in fees given its position as by far the most popular programming in all of U.S. television.
While Fox is well aware of that dynamic, it’s arguably less equipped than other NFL rights holders to see annual rights fees grow by perhaps half. Fox currently pays $2.25 billion per year for NFL rights, and already has said it might have to “rebalance” its sports rights to absorb the increased costs—language that’s frequently corporate code for making cuts.
As that is unfolding, political pressure on the NFL and its media policies has escalated considerably in recent months. Even without testifying in person, the league was a focal point of a Congressional hearing last week about the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. Several top Democrats on Capitol Hill believe much of the scrutiny ultimately derives from Fox chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan’s father, who met earlier this year with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The [U.S. Department of Justice] investigation, like this hearing, appears to be all about helping Mr. Murdoch get a better broadcast deal for Fox,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) said last week.
Shares of Fox were down about 15% in midday trading Monday as investors were concerned about dilution to the shares.
