‘Quibi’ is now dead, as previously announced, and the short-lived mobile-focused streaming service is reportedly looking to migrate its unique content library to another platform. It appears that there’s a respectable number of users who would like to regain access to the content they were locked out of on December 1, 2020, and rumors claim that Roku is in advanced discussions for this matter specifically.
Now, here’s the weird thing about this news. Roku is known for producing streaming devices, and they are admittedly pretty good at it. However, they have never offered content themselves, nor have they ever expressed an intention to do so. In Quibi’s case, though, Roku doesn’t have to invest huge amounts of money to create original series or films. As such, the device maker could just add something like a little bonus for its customers, and another small reason to pick Roku against competing sticks and top-set TV boxes.
So, what exactly does this content library include then? Quibi had a run with 8,500 “quick-bite” shows and short-form episodes of a duration of 10 minutes or less, and a mobile-friendly 16:9 ratio. Besides the respectable size, Quibi’s $1 billion investment also ensured the high quality of the content, sealed by 10 Emmy Awards nominations in July 2020 and a win for the “#FreeRayshawn” series. All in all, Quibi did have some great stuff in its library that Roku users could enjoy during their subscription-hopping breaks.
If the deal is indeed agreed between Quibi and Roku, we do not expect the latter to compete with the likes of Disney, Netflix, and Amazon, but it will be a nice addition to its products. Of course, we may see a small price hike due to this investment, but that’s purely business strategy and marketing territory, so let’s leave it aside for now.
Until that deal moves forward, you can fiddle with your Roku device by unlocking the “hidden” channels in your device and getting access to a whole host of additional podcasts, TV shows, newscasts, on-demand movies, game videos, and even audio files.