UPDATED: Roku has removed at least 35 original shows from the Roku Channel, as part of its announced effort to cut costs.
Those include episodes of the “Reno 911!” revival of the Comedy Central series; oddball sex-doll comedy “Dummy” starring Anna Kendrick; plane-crash drama “Survive” starring Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins; and dystopian thriller “Most Dangerous Game,” starring Christopher Waltz; “Singled Out,” a reboot of the ’90s MTV dating show hosted by Keke Palmer; “The Andy Cohen Diaries,” an animated series chronicling the life of the Bravo TV producer and personality; a remake of “The Fugitive” starring Kiefer Sutherland; “Elba vs. Block,” a stunt-racing show in which Idris Elba and professional rally driver Ken Block competed head-to-head; and survival drama “Wireless” starring Tye Sheridan.
Also pulled from the Roku Channel were “Dishmantled,” a cooking competition hosted by Tituss Burgess; “The Newsreader”; “Panhandle”; “Slip”; “Moving the Needle With Dr. Woo”; “Surprise We’re Pregnant”; “Eye Candy”; “Murder House Flip”; “Let’s Roll With Tony Greenhand”; “About Face”; “Barkitecture”; “Big Rad Wolf”; “You Ain’t Got These”; “Murder Unboxed”; “Gayme Show”; “Iron Sharpens Iron”; “Squeaky Clean”; “Fierce Queens”; “Benedict Men”; “Memory Hole”; “Nice One!”; “Run This City”; “The Sauce”; “Gone Mental with Lior”; “Cup of Joe,” a travel series following Joe Jonas; and Veena Sud’s psychological thriller “The Stranger.”
Most of these shows were originally produced for now-defunct mobile streaming service Quibi, the assets of which were acquired by Roku in early 2021.
The removals are part of a series of cost-cutting measures by Roku, which includes laying off 10% of its staff. Roku estimates that it will take a $55 million-$65 million content-impairment charge related to “removing select existing licensed and produced content from company-operated services on its TV streaming platform.”
A source familiar with the company’s strategy says the shows being removed from the Roku Channel are titles that are not attracting new viewers. The removal of some of the titles from the Roku Channel was first reported by Deadline.