Roku and Disney Have More to Lose Than They Think
There's another standoff in the streaming wars. Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) and Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) are squaring off in a battle of revenue sharing and who knows what else this month. It's a fight that neither party can afford to lose. If the impasse continues both companies will suffer.
The first public shots were fired late last week when Disney+ launched an ad-supported streaming plan at a discount to the original service that's free of commercial interruptions on Thursday. The new tier is priced at $7.99 a month, rolling out at the same time the ad-free version saw its monthly rate soar 38% to $10.99.
The problem here is that you can't stream the new Disney+ format with ads on Roku's operating system. The streaming video pioneer and media giant failed to hammer out a distribution agreement ahead of the launch. It's a big deal now, but the snowball is going to get even bigger if a resolution isn't negotiated soon.
Source Fool.com
