Reporting by Deadline indicates that Roku, which had been rumored to be part of an offer to acquire Paramount, is no longer part of the conversation. The narrative involving Roku was tied to reporting from various outlets including the Wall Street Journal and Indie Wire that Roku is part of a group of investors led by Edgar Bronfman, Jr., that will make a late push to purchase Paramount as an opposing bid to Skydance.
The reporting led to speculation that Roku would tie assets like Paramount+ or Pluto TV to the Roku platform or the Roku channel. But according to Deadline, the company is no longer part of the group led by Bronfman.
No matter how things play out with Paramount it could have an impact on the streaming space. Questions for the future include the nature of Pluto TV going forward, the future of TV shows produced by and for Paramount+, and other vendors such as Amazon’s “Reacher”. Depending on how Skydance or the rival bid owners look at the company overall the streaming and linear TV channels could go in wildly different directions.
If the bid by Bronfman meets the standards for consideration by Paramount there could be a 30-day period to explore and hash out the details.
The bidding period for Paramount, which includes CBS, Paramount Studios, Paramount+, and the Viacom family of networks will end as of Wednesday night.
