Quibi lives on – all of its content will be offered for free on the Roku channel

Just when we thought Quibi was out of our sights, Roku pulled a 2021 and announced that it’s picking up the rights to Quibi’s library of content. And they’re going to offer it all for free via the Roku Channel.

Roku didn’t disclose how much it paid for the content, and honestly, who the hell cares, but a source familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the company paid “significantly less” than $100 million. At one point, Quibi was valued at $1 billion.

When you should expect to see Quibi’s content on the Roku Channel is a bit unclear at this time. Roku didn’t really give a specific timeline other than some point in 2021. But we do know that more than 75 original shows and documentaries will be ported over to the Roku Channel.

Roku has a two-year exclusive deal with Quibi. After that, they’ll be able to show the content until 2027. On top of that, Roku has to display the content in its original form, meaning they can’t stitch up multiple short-form episodes into one long episode.

Quibi, on paper, seemed to check a lot of boxes. Quality creators, the return of popular shows from the past, and an interesting mobile format meant for people on the move. Then COVID-19 struck, and everything shut down. People weren’t on the move, and this was a factor in its demise.

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Editors’ Recommendations:

• Short-form mobile streaming service Quibi is shutting down a mere six months after release
• If anyone cares, Quibi is now available on Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV
• Apparently, Quibi was just like its content, a flash in the pan
• Quibi is a new $8/month streaming video service that lives entirely on your phone – is it any good?

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.