Roku acquired the This Old House including global distribution rights and all subsidiary brands, including TV shows This Old House and Ask this old house.
The business continues to add assets to the streaming company’s Roku Channel, which doubled its scope in 2020, reaching homes with 63 million people. It is primarily a free destination for streaming with ad support and has almost 200 channels.
Executives declined to specify an assessment, but a source familiar with the deal said he would not require a regulatory filing that would involve all transactions of $ 100 million or more.
The deal involves Roku taking over TOH Intermediate Holdings, which owns the This Old House business, of the TZP Group. The executive team of This Old House will join Roku, including CEO Dan Suratt, and the team behind the shows will continue to create the lineup as before, said Roku.
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The program’s libraries, all digital assets and the television production studio are included in the deal. This Old House and Ask This Old House were the two highest rated retirement programs in the United States in 2020, according to Nielsen. They won a total of 19 Emmy Awards and 102 nominations.
Earlier this year, Roku entered the realm of original programming by acquiring Quibi’s programming, positioning programming for the Roku Channel. He also just released an original series, Cypher.
Past seasons of This Old House and Ask this old house are now available for free on the Roku Channel through linear programming and on demand. The current, 42nd season of This Old House and the 19th season of Ask this old house are available for free on Canal Roku as episodes on demand after being broadcast on local PBS stations.
The availability of Roku arrives one day after the linear debut.
Rob Holmes, vice president of programming at Roku, said the deal brings the show that “created the home improvement genre” to the company’s platform. The company has been adding lifestyle programming to the Roku Channel since its launch in 2019. In a brief press release following the announcement of the deal, Holmes said that lifestyle programming “is a great example of the first AVOD content pack . From the consumer’s point of view, you are very happy to watch. ”In terms of cost, he added,“ it doesn’t have the same production costs as The crown or War of Thrones. “
In the official announcement of the deal, Holmes said This Old House “It has the broad appeal that is perfectly suited to support the growth strategy supported by Canal Roku ads.”
Suratt, CEO said that Roku “represents the future of TV, and we couldn’t think of a better home for This Old House to grow and continue its leadership position in the residential reform genre. “