Although consolidation has been anticipated in the streaming world for quite some time, very few (if any) analysts saw Roku’s acquisition of Frndly TV coming. Nevertheless, that’s exactly what happened; on Thursday, Roku announced that it was acquiring the skinny-bundle service, in a move that is sure to shake up the streaming world. Just how the move will shake out is yet to be seen, but we’ve got a few ideas about what Roku’s purchase of Frndly TV will mean for the service.

What does Roku buying Frndly TV mean for both services?

Will the Frndly TV price go up?

One of the baseline features of Frndly TV is its low price compared to other live TV streamers. Frndly only carries a few marquee cable channels like Hallmark Channel and Lifetime, and doesn’t offer live sports options, cable news channels, or local broadcast networks. But in exchange for its unique content selection, Frndly offers subscription plans that don’t exceed $12 per month.

Without a better look into Frndly TV’s financials, it’s difficult to say if the streamer needs a price increase to keep its margins up to Roku’s standards. However, I would guess that Roku will raise the price of Frndly by a dollar or two in the relatively near future following the closing of the deal.

While I expect Roku to keep the streamer reasonably priced to preserve its reputation as budget-friendly, moving the base tier from $7 to $9 or $10 per month is certainly in the cards.

Will Frndly TV add more cable channels?

This question goes hand-in-hand with the price increase discussion. If Roku decides to raise the price of Frndly TV, it could be because it wants to add more cable channels to the streamer’s lineup. Options like Discovery or Food Network might be good fits for the Frndly TV programming philosophy, and it would hardly be a surprise to see Roku make an effort to bring these channels to Frndly.

If Roku does look to broaden Frndly’s channel offerings, I would imagine that it will be by adding new subscription tiers, rather than by changing the core operating philosophy behind the service. So, if something like this does happen, I would guess that the current channel lineup will essentially remain the same — with perhaps a few changes here and there — but that Frndly will introduce a more robust option or two for consumers looking for a bit more in terms of channels.

I do not think that it is likely that Frndly will all of a sudden look to offer a service that competes with DIRECTV, Hulu + Live TV, or YouTube TV, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually splits the difference and lands on something similar to Philo and Sling TV, while still maintaining its traditional product.

How big will the changes at Frndly TV be?

Roku has confirmed that it will keep Frndly’s current team intact, including the executives leading the streamer. So it’s unlikely that a huge number of changes are coming down the pike immediately for the service. There is no doubt that Roku is acquiring the platform because it has an idea on how to make even more money from it in the future, but I don’t expect immense and immediate changes to come to Frndly TV.

I would imagine that the growth opportunity from purchasing Frndly is about Roku’s unique ability to expand the reach of the service. Roku dominates the streaming landscape in North America, amassing over 35.8 billion streaming hours on its platform in the first quarter of this year. By being able to introduce the low-cost service to nearly 90 million households, Roku has the ability to dramatically increase Frndly’s reach simply by exposure alone.

How much of a presence will Frndly TV have on Roku platforms?

Now, with that in mind, there is a pretty good chance that you’ll see a lot of Frndly TV advertisements on the Roku home screen once the deal is finalized later this quarter. The Roku cityscape could be replete with references to Frndly, and there are also plenty of opportunities to advertise it on The Roku Channel as well. It’s likely that Roku owners will be exposed to lots of chances to subscribe to Frndly TV going forward.

There is also a really good chance that Frndly will find itself pre-loaded on new Roku devices and smart TVs and featured heavily in traditional advertising placements. While Roku won’t sacrifice its lucrative advertising arrangements with other live TV streaming services, you can expect to see a lot more of Frndly in the near future. Who knows, maybe the skinny bundle will change its branding from the signature green to Roku’s purple to fit in with its new parent company.

Will Frndly TV incorporate Roku Channel free streaming networks?

The Roku Channel offers a lineup of hundreds of free streaming channels, many of which would also be a fit for Frndly TV’s family-friendly ethos. Roku would have to get approval from those channel owners to distribute content on Frndly TV as well, but if they did, they could advertise a larger channel count for Frndly when trying to sell the service.

There are also on-demand Roku originals like “The Great American Baking Show” that could be housed simultaneously within Frndly. I think Roku will at least try to integrate some of its content on Frndly, whether that be originals or licensed channels that go well with the type of programming that Frndly already offers.

Will Roku try to acquire a subscription on-demand streamer next?

As mentioned above, there’s little doubt in the mind of most media analysts that consolidation will become a pattern in the streaming world going forward. There are simply too many streaming services at the moment, and financially speaking, they won’t all be able to survive in the long term.

Roku is one of the companies that does seem well-positioned for the future, especially with its continued success as a smart TV and streaming device manufacturer. I wouldn’t rule out an attempt by Roku to purchase a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in the future, though it will almost certainly be a smaller one; don’t expect Roku to all of a sudden become the owners Max or Apple TV+.

Not only would the corporate parents of those streamers make that highly unlikely, but they are also already highly visible on Roku and fighting feverishly to achieve profitability, so the cost-benefit analysis probably isn’t in Roku’s favor at this point.

However, if Roku sees the opportunity to purchase a smaller, more niche service, like those owned by AMC Networks — like AMC+, Shudder, ALLBLK, Acorn TV, and others — that could make sense. Roku would be able to increase the visibility of those platforms, which individually and collectively still have a lot of room for growth.

Will Frndly TV go the way of Quibi?

This isn’t the first time Roku has made a big acquisition in the streaming world. It also purchased Quibi’s content library in early 2021, but those titles were purged from the Roku catalog in 2023. There are some key differences in the two cases, including the fact that Quibi had already decided to shut down by the time Roku had purchased these assets.

It seems that Roku has a different fate in store for Frndly TV, which doesn’t offer original programming the way Quibi did. Still, there’s at least a small chance that Roku acquired Frndly for certain assets and plans to wind down other parts of the streamer.