A few years before the pandemic, a common refrain from consumers on traditional cable and satellite TV was, “Just give me my sports content,” a cry for a la carte content that required settling on bundles of channels that offered little to no interest, adding to the overall cable bill. Over time, streaming services flooded the media landscape, and many of those same consumers complained that finding their sports content was too scattered. Back to the future: In some ways, having a single place to find your sports content might not be a bad idea.

Roku has recognized this and has aggressively sought out sports offerings that can be streamed. With the signing of their first live sports deal with Formula E in 2023, they have proven themselves to be a giant in the pursuit of sports content, be it Major League Baseball games with MLB Sunday kick-offThe Rich Eisen Show, Boxing or Roku Originals produced by the respective sports leagues such as the NFL Good Morning Football: Extra TimeAnd NFL Draft: The selection is here.

On Monday, Roku is entering this space even further with a special, free, 24/7 ad-supported (FAST) premium channel called the Roku Sports Channel.

Ahead of the Roku Sports Channel announcement, I spoke with Joe Franzetta, Roku Media’s head of sports, about Roku’s strategy and how the company is staying ahead of the competition, as Roku is the primary operating system platform for many smart TVs purchased around the world.

“We create the experience on the platform,” Frazetta said. “We work with our partners to ingest all the content, whether it’s live or on-demand. We organize it and make sure all the metadata structure is in place so it’s easy to find on our platform. They do the production. We use all kinds of bells and whistles to make it accessible and easy for people to find. So we work closely with our partners on that organization, that look and feel to create the platform experience.”

Roku’s embedded platform in the smart TVs it sells means there’s a built-in audience. Alongside the streaming apps consumers download, the main interface provides space to promote content.

According to Roku’s latest financial report, there were nearly 84 million streaming households in Q2 2024, up 2 million from Q1 of this year and up +14% year over year. Streaming hours on Roku totaled 30.1 billion in Q2 2024, also a significant increase.

Frazetta describes Roku as “lead-in TV” – the idea of ​​the first interface that users see before making a selection.

When asked about the deal with Major League Baseball, Franzetta said it was a great addition to the platform. “It’s gone incredibly well,” he said. “It’s met and exceeded all of our expectations.”

“We looked at how we could build the most comprehensive destination possible,” Frazetta added. “So again, clips and highlights from every single game, a new MLB quick channel, VOD. Content that is always available and creates that ‘always-on’ experience for MLB fans, not just when the games are live, but any time someone wants to consume MLB content. And from a timing perspective, it just happened that they were open to having a conversation about the Sunday Leadoff package.”

The Roku Sports Channel not only supports what is currently available, but also provides a location for future expansion of sports offerings.

“The Roku Sports Channel is a curated, always-on channel that guides our viewers through the wide variety of free premium sports content on The Roku Channel. It’s an exciting addition to our growing sports offering,” Franzetta said in an announcement of the new 24/7 channel. “We continue to see viewers enjoy the familiar, relaxed experience that FAST provides, especially when it comes to sports. Sports is one of our most popular channel genres on The Roku Channel, so we’re thrilled to make it even easier for viewers to immerse themselves in Roku’s outstanding programming.”

Roku has been extremely aggressive in the sports space and there is no indication that this will change.

“We’re going to continue to grow,” Franzetta told me. “We’ve had a lot of success in a relatively short period of time. I think it’s because of our team, because of the platform itself, because of the platform’s ability to accommodate and host those experiences, and because of the strategy of aggregating the content. I think we’re going to continue to think carefully about how we approach the growth of the company. So if you look at our overall sports strategy, it continues to revolve around the idea of ​​creating that goal clarity so that you can find all the sports you want.”