Roku Threatens to Remove Fox Channels Friday Night; Vizio Pushes Its Platform

February 3, 2020 |Streaming Media

If Roku doesn't reach an agreement with Fox to redistribute its channels, it will be "forced to remove FOX channels from the Roku platform because we can't distribute content without an agreement," blogged Roku Friday. That was hours ahead of the 11:59 p.m. deadline when its distribution agreement with Fox was set to expire. Saying it doesn't want that to happen, Roku said it "tried for months" to get Fox to sign an agreement -- "and we offered FOX an extension but they declined." Vizio reminded football fans Friday that its TVs support Apple AirPlay 2 and Chromecast built-in, providing streaming for cord-cutters and viewers who might be blocked from watching the Super Bowl due to retransmission fee conflicts (see 2001290047). Vizio SmartCast TV owners could watch by pulling up the Fox Sports or Fox Now apps on a smartphone or tablet, selecting the game and tapping the Chromecast or AirPlay button to stream to sets, it emailed.