The Roku Channel has landed the exclusive rights to stream films from Lionsgate for a limited time after their first exclusive window with Starz ends.
The multi-year agreement, which goes into effect this year, will see Lionsgate’s films streaming on the ad-supported Roku Channel after their limited exclusive availability on the Starz channel streaming service ends. After this second window of exclusivity ends, the films may stay with The Roku Channel but on a non-exclusive basis.
Films that are part of this deal include any upcoming installments to the John Wick action franchise, Expendables 4, Borderlands, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent among others.
The Roku Channel is a service available through the Roku streaming device which allows users to access a number of streaming service through the downloading of various apps. Roku currently has surpassed 60 million active accounts, giving all of those users access to the Roku Channel in addition to their own curated list of services.
The deal marks a further step that Roku is taking towards not just being a hardware device but to beefing up their status as their own content provider. Previously the company bought the content library of Quibi after that service flared out a few months after it had launched. While some studios such as Warners Brothers, Paramount and Disney all have their own streaming outlets, other players like Lionsgate, Sony, Neon and others do not, leaving the Roku Channel as option for them to capitalize on their films’ home video market potential.
