A group of congressional Democrats is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to closely examine Fox Corporation’s proposed $22 billion acquisition of Roku, warning the deal could reduce consumer choice and give Fox greater control over one of the country’s largest connected television platforms.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Representative Becca Balint of Vermont led the July 16 letter to Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, asking for assurances that the Antitrust Division’s review will be conducted impartially and without political interference.
The lawmakers said Roku’s scale could give a combined Fox-Roku company the ability and incentive to favor Fox programming across the platform’s roughly 100 million households.
“A merger between Fox and Roku may also give the combined Fox-Roku entity the incentive to preference and steer viewers to Fox content,” the lawmakers wrote, arguing that such conduct could disadvantage competing programmers and limit consumer choice.
They also said eliminating Roku as an independent company could weaken competition in free, ad-supported streaming and potentially allow the combined company to impose fees on services that are currently available without a subscription.
Fox announced the proposed acquisition in June. The transaction would place Roku’s television operating system, advertising technology and streaming platform under the same corporate ownership as Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports and Tubi.
Fox acquired Tubi in 2020 and has since expanded the free streaming service’s programming and advertising business. Roku operates its own free service, The Roku Channel, while also serving as a distribution platform for competing streaming companies.
Fox and Roku said when announcing the agreement that Roku would continue operating as an open, partner-friendly platform. The companies also said Fox programming would remain widely distributed across competing services and devices.
The lawmakers’ concerns extend beyond the competitive effects of the transaction. Their letter cited reports that Woodward had encouraged federal antitrust attorneys to resolve merger disputes through settlements rather than trials.
“We are concerned that settlements invite opportunities for more backroom deals,” they wrote, adding that such an approach could weaken the government’s ability to challenge transactions that violate antitrust law.
The letter follows a period of extensive media consolidation, including Disney’s combination of Hulu Plus Live TV with Fubo and Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.
Other signatories included Representatives Jerrold Nadler of New York, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Pat Ryan of New York.
Fox Corporation and Roku have not commented on the letter.
