Fox to Buy Roku: Streaming Monopoly on the Horizon?

On June 15, 2026, Fox Corporation (“Fox”) announced it would acquire Roku, Inc. (“Roku”) (Fox Corp). The transaction combines Fox’s news, sports, and entertainment portfolio, including Tubi’s streaming service, with Roku’s connected-TV operating system, “the Roku Channel,” and a first-party data relationship that reaches over 100 million households globally. Id. Fox Executive Chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch described the acquisition as a defining moment for Fox, continuing a streaming push that began with Fox’s acquisition of Tubi in 2020. Id. The deal is being financed, in part, by Morgan Stanley through $12 billion in bridge financing. (Al Barbarino, Law360). The deal is slated to close in the first half of 2027 after shareholder and regulatory approval. Id. While the transaction may appear to be an ordinary corporate acquisition, it presents a more consequential antitrust issue for regulators to grapple with. (Flavia Fortes, MLex). This post will examine the deal structure, then will analyze the core antitrust question: whether combining a content owner with a connected-TV gatekeeper gives the merged entity the incentive and ability to harm competitors that outweigh the deal’s claimed efficiencies.

Global transactions are set to hit a new record in 2026, totaling $2.6 trillion. (David Carnevali, et al., Bloomberg). Fox and Roku are among those deals making waves in cross-border capital. Id. The price breakdown for Roku’s outstanding Class A and B stock comes out to $96 in cash and 0.9693 shares of Fox Class A common stock. (Al Barbarino, Law360). After closing, current Fox and Roku shareholders will own approximately 73% and 27% of the combined companies, respectively. Id. Beyond the monetary considerations for the deal, Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood is expected to retain an operating role and join Fox’s Board of Directors. (Fox Corp). On its face, the deal looks like any other typical high-dollar deal, but the more minute details unveil the potential issues on the horizon.

Before the proposed merger, Fox already had a history with Roku. Fox held a 5% stake in the company, which it sold in 2020 to finance its acquisition of Tubi. (Michelle Davis et al., Bloomberg). The market’s reaction to the announcement of the deal showed some potential skepticism as Fox’s shares declined 17%, and Roku’s declined a small amount as well. Id.This showed that the stock components perhaps were worth less than other aspects of the deal, and that investors viewed Fox as carrying the risk. Id. Analysts suspect Fox, grappling with the decline in traditional TV viewership, believes this deal could shift Fox towards a digital, streaming-based business model. (Milana Vinn, Reuters). This potential shift towards streaming would position Fox as the third-largest streaming company, behind YouTube and Disney. Id.

The Fox-Roku deal raises several antitrust questions for regulators amid media consolidation. The deal could draw substantial U.S. antitrust review for vertical combination issues in streaming distribution and the treatment of rival services operating within a competitor-owned platform. (Flavia Fortes, MLex). Vertical combinations occur when parties within the same supply chain merge or are acquired, so they are not direct competitors but have influence over the overall supply chain for the goods or services. For example, four days prior to the Fox-Roku deal, the DOJ cleared Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. (Richard Wells, TechTimes). In 2025, Disney completed its own acquisition of Hulu. Id. Unlike Paramount Skydance, Fox and Roku involve a content owner acquiring the operating system, home-screen presence, and search functionality that competing content owners depend on to reach viewers. (Flavia Fortes, MLex).

The 2023 FTC/DOJ Merger Guidelines specifically address multi-sided platform transactions, warning that a firm acting as both the platform operator and a platform participant may be incentivized to favor its own products over competitors, to the detriment of competition among the platform's users. (FTC; Bruce Sokler et al., Mintz). This is the exact issue with this deal: once Fox owns Roku’s operating system, it becomes both the driver and the passenger on the same platform that Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, and other rivals rely on to reach a substantial share of streaming households. (Flavia Fortes, MLex). Regulators will likely consider whether Fox could favor its own content through search results, home-screen placement, or other platform functions, and whether rival services have adequate alternative distribution channels.

The potential antitrust concern is not merely theoretical. In 2021, Roku accused Google of anticompetitive conduct during negotiations over YouTube TV, alleging that Google demanded preferential treatment in search results and voice functionality that other streaming partners did not have to provide. (Sarah Perez, TechCrunch). The neutrality concerns Roku raised against Google illustrate the type of platform favoritism regulators, competitors, and content partners may now scrutinize in the Fox-Roku deal, despite Roku’s CEO assuring that the company would maintain its “open, partner-friendly platform.” (Lucas Manfredi, The Wrap). Regulatory attorney Braden Perry noted that Roku’s growth has depended on a reputation for carrying every streaming service neutrally, and that regulators will scrutinize whether Fox would favor its own applications over those of competitors operating inside the platform. Id. Other analysts have observed that the deal would give Fox increased leverage over rival services that have little practical ability to walk away from Roku’s platform. Id.

As a whole, this transaction will likely clear its financing and shareholder approval hurdles without much pushback, but the more consequential and less predictable hurdle is the antitrust review, where the DOJ or the FTC must determine whether Fox’s ownership creates the incentive and ability to foreclose competitors in the manner described in the Merger Guidelines. (Bruce Sokler et al., Mintz). To secure the necessary regulatory approval, it will be vital for Fox to take the following steps to show the regulators their intent to maintain neutrality and competition: build a strong evidentiary record showing procompetitive rationale; document and quantify consumer benefits; offer credible commitments to remedy concerns; and show its intent to protect competition—don’t just tell. (Dechert).