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Roku, today, is launching Howdy, a new ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service coming in at $2.99/month (less than a cup of coffee, according to the company), with content from partners like Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FilmRise. Roku insists this is the everyday price, not some temporary introductory offer, and a direct challenge to the ballooning subscription costs plaguing everyone's bank accounts.
The service provides unlimited access to what Roku calls "award-winning content", featuring thousands of titles and almost 10,000 hours of entertainment at launch.
The catalog includes a pretty wide mix of recognizable films and shows like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Blind Side, and Weeds, alongside some of its own Roku Original productions. CEO Anthony Wood stated that Howdy is "designed to complement, not compete with, premium services".
We’re meeting a real need for consumers who want to unwind with their favorite movies and shows uninterrupted and on their terms. Howdy is a natural step for us at Roku, extending our mission to make better TV for everyone, by making it affordable, accessible, and built for how people watch today.
Of course, there are a few catches. For now, you can only watch Howdy on a Roku device. The company says a rollout to mobile and other platforms is coming "in the near future", but that is a vague timeline that could mean anything.
To get the word out, Roku will begin promoting the service in Times Square starting today, August 5th, through the 31st in what it describes as a "branded takeover" of the digital billboards. If you are a Roku user interested in this, you can check it out at howdy.tv.
On a related note, the streaming giant recently refreshed its streaming stick lineup with the $29.99 Roku Streaming Stick and the $39.99 Roku Streaming Stick Plus. The cheaper stick handles 1080p streaming over Wi-Fi 4, while the pricier model adds 4K UHD with HDR10+ support on top of Wi-Fi 5.
