Roku’s latest move could be bad news for YouTube TV ‣ Diverse Daily

Summary

Roku has entered into an agreement to acquire Frndly TV for $185 million.
Frndly TV offers over 50 live TV channels, starting as low as $7 a month. It’s a budget-friendly alternative to other live TV streaming services, like YouTube TV and DirecTV.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, with $75 million of it based on performance.

Roku
is already the largest

streaming provider
in the US, and it is now preparing to expand even further with a significant acquisition deal.

Roku has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Frndly TV for $185 million. If you are unfamiliar with Frndly TV, it is a subscription streaming service that offers live TV, on-demand video, and cloud-based DVR. What makes it stand out among its competitors is that it is offered at a relatively affordable price, with its cheapest plan costing $7 a month.

“Frndly TV’s impressive growth and expertise in direct-to-consumer subscription services make it a compelling addition to Roku,” said Anthony Wood, Roku’s founder and CEO. “This acquisition supports our focus on growing platform revenue and Roku-billed subscriptions, with a live content offering our users love at an industry-leading price point.”

Frndly TV

Frndly TV is a budget-friendly live TV streaming service. Its basic plan starts at $7, with a higher-priced classic and premium plan also available. In 2025, Roku announced it was acquiring Frndly TV.

Roku’s new streaming sticks are smaller, smarter, and still ridiculously cheap

Roku has has introduced a new Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus.

The deal is expected to close later this year

Frndly TV is nowhere near as large as YouTube TV

Roku’s acquisition deal with Frndly TV is expected to close in the second quarter of this year. Of the $185 million in cash that Roku has put forth for the deal, $75 million is “tied to meeting performance goals and milestones over the next two years.” Frndly TV isn’t as large as its competitors in the live TV space, such as YouTube TV or DirecTV, but it is unique among the group for offering a lot of family-friendly content at an affordable price.

Currently, Frndly TV offers over 50 live TV channels, granting subscribers access to channels such as A&E, Hallmark Channel, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, Lifetime, and many more. It also features a cloud-based DVR service that allows users to record shows, along with a 72-hour look-back feature that enables viewers to watch any shows that aired on one of its channels in the past 72 hours.

“We’re incredibly excited to join Roku and continue our mission to provide customers feel-good, quality entertainment as the most affordable live TV subscription streaming service in America,” said Andy Karofsky, Frndly TV’s co-founder and CEO.

Frndly TV is accessible on Roku OS, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android, iOS, Chromecast (Google TV), Samsung smart TVs, and more. Roku is charting new territory with this acquisition deal, as it has never operated a subscription service before; instead, it has mainly focused on its FAST channel and streaming devices for revenue.

There is significant competition in the live TV space, so it will be fascinating to see how Frndly TV evolves over the next two years. Perhaps this could be Roku’s way of slowly starting to build its own version of YouTube TV, but that’s just speculation on my part. Earlier this year, Roku reached a billion dollars in revenue, with the audience for The Roku Channel growing to 145 million people.