Roku is losing Fox apps just in time for you to miss the Super Bowl, maybe
If you were hoping to watch the Super Bowl on your Roku TV or set-top box, I hope you don’t mind paying for streaming services like FuboTV, Sling or Hulu, because your existing cable subscription is no good as of today — Roku is pulling all of its Fox apps off of the platform, effective tomorrow, one day before the Big Game.
That might strike you as sudden, considering we reported this very morning that Fox Sports was working hard to bring a 4K HDR stream of the Super Bowl to Roku’s streaming sticks, pucks, and TVs. But minutes ago, Fox Sports removed references to Roku from multiple spots on its Super Bowl website, and we confirmed with Roku that seven channels in total are leaving… unless Fox and Roku strike a deal.
You see, this isn’t an arbitrary move, or even a technical issue — it’s a carriage dispute between the two companies, Roku tells The Verge. Roku and Fox have a distribution agreement set to expire tomorrow. “We offered Fox an extension… if an agreement is not reached, we’ll be forced to remove the channels,” a company representative says.
Fox wasn’t immediately available to comment.
Here are the seven Fox channels that are disappearing.
- Fox Now
- Fox Sports
- Fox News
- Fox Business
- Fox Soccer
- Big Ten Network
- Fox Nation
Roku is quick to point out that there are other ways to stream Fox and the Super Bowl on Roku devices, including a number of them with free trials if you haven’t previously been a subscriber. Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV are options, and a rep says FuboTV may even offer a 4K stream. But it seems like Fox and Roku are playing hardball, and there’s a very good chance you can’t count on these apps to bring you the Super Bowl on Sunday.
That may be a surprise to some Roku owners, since this is all that Roku is currently telling them via email — no mention of the game:
We’ll have to wait and see. In the meanwhile, if you’re dead set on watching the game on a Roku, you might want to check out those free trials.
If you were hoping to watch the Super Bowl on your Roku TV or set-top box, I hope you don’t mind paying for streaming services like FuboTV, Sling or Hulu, because your existing cable subscription is no good as of today — Roku is pulling all of its Fox apps…
