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Roku May Join the Streaming Wars With Original TV Shows and Movies

A job posting suggests the company is looking for new ways to drive users to the free Roku Channel, where it can serve ads to generate revenue.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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(Credit: Roku)


Roku might be preparing to produce its own original TV shows and movies. 

The company is perhaps best known for TV dongles, and bringing Netflix and other streaming channels to smart TVs. However, Roku recently posted a job opening for a “lead production attorney” to develop "original episodic and feature length productions.”

The job posting, which was first reported on by Protocol, goes on to say the attorney will draft and negotiate agreements to “hire writers, actors, directors and individual producers.” 

The Roku job posting
(Credit: LinkedIn)

The job posting appears after Roku last month announced it was buying the rights for all the TV shows that appeared on Quibi, the now-shuttered streaming service for smartphones. All the content for Quibi is slated to live exclusively on the Roku Channel, the company’s own ad-supported free streaming channel. 

Roku didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company may be looking for new ways to drive users to the Roku Channel, where it can serve ads to generate revenue. 

Roku Channel
The ad-supported content you can find on the Roku Channel (Credit: Roku)

The same channel currently hosts many licensed classic TV shows, such as Quantum Leap, Bewitched and Magnum PI. However, original content could give users another reason to stick around and watch. 

“As we continue to offer users more content and features in The Roku Channel, we believe our viewers will stream more content from within it and it will become an even more important source of economics to our content partners,” the company said in November. 

According to the company, Roku Channel is reaching US households home to an estimated 54 million people. The channel is also growing faster than the other top 10 streaming services on the Roku platform. 

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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