Roku is adding more content to its free streaming service, The Roku Channel. The company made a deal today for global distribution rights to “This Old House” and “Ask This Old House.”
The deal includes the full show libraries, all digital assets, and the television production studio. Past seasons of the shows will be available to stream for free on The Roku Channel. Current seasons of the shows will also be available for free, with new episodes available on demand after airing on PBS.
“As the top-rated home improvement programs in America, ‘This Old House’ has the broad appeal that is perfectly suited to support The Roku Channel’s ad-supported growth strategy,” said Rob Holmes, VP of Programming, Roku in a statement today. “’This Old House created the television home improvement genre and is beloved by millions of fans. We are thrilled to welcome this incredible team, and we could not be more excited to help grow the brand for an entire new generation of home improvement enthusiasts.”
“This Old House” has been airing for 42 seasons and “Ask This Old House” is on season 19. The two series were the two top rated home improvement shows of 2020, according to Nielsen. While The Roku Channel will stream the shows for free, they won’t be exclusively available for The Roku Channel viewers.
“We believe that the types of incremental content investments we have been making are commensurate with the scale and growth trajectory of The Roku Channel,” Holmes said. “While TV subscription services require exclusive content on an ongoing basis, we believe that ad-supported models like The Roku Channel thrive with content that is broadly distributed across multiple platforms and services. Furthermore, the more relevant the content becomes for a larger audience, the more appealing it is to advertising partners.”