A digital artist in Oregon who distributed an aquarium-themed screen saver on Roku devices has ended his licensing agreement with the connected TV platform following its acquisition by Fox Corporation last week.
In a post on the social media website Reddit, Jim Sachs said his company, SereneScreen, was moving on from its partnership with Roku after Fox’s $22 billion deal to acquire Roku went through.
“I can’t be part of the Fox world,” Sachs said in an interview with the website Ars Technica.
Users with the Marine Aquarium screen saver activated received messages last week that said the feature was being de-commissioned at the end of the month. Affected streamers will instead switch to the default “Roku City” screen saver, unless they choose something else. Roku sells promotional opportunities and sponsorships against the Roku City screen saver, but its other options — including a clock and one featuring just the Roku logo — are typically ad-free.
It isn’t clear how many Roku users opted for Marine Aquarium, though the feature offered a tranquil effect for some, with one user saying the screen saver helped with their attention deficit disorder.
“It may be over the top, but it’s true,” the user said on Reddit. “It takes a lot for me to chill and relax, but this Aquatic Life (screen saver) is my go-to.”
Disappointed Roku users still have options: They can turn to Roku, which is filled with hours-long videos that offer much of the same, or they can switch to another platform like Android TV and Apple TV, which have similar tranquil screen savers. The Marine Aquarium screen saver is also available as a download for Windows and Macintosh computer and as an app for Apple and Android phones and tablets. (The program costs $15, and doesn’t work as a screen saver on newer Mac computers and iPhones.)
Sachs’ motivation for pulling the screen saver appears appeared to be rooted mainly in the politics of its news network: “It seems that Fox simply wants another venue for spreading their philosophy, which I consider repugnant. I can’t stand the idea of my artwork being used to lure even one person down that rabbit hole,” he said.
Serene Screen earned between $60,000 and $80,000 in annual licensing fees from Roku, depending on the exclusivity of the arrangement. Sachs will be financially okay when the deal ends, but he won’t be able to start “any of the projects I had planned,” he complained.
Separately, in a post on his personal LinkedIn page, Sachs said he attempted to defend the decision to pull the screen saver by going to Roku users directly on Reddit, but the sole moderator of Roku’s most-popular group in the community deleted his post because of a rule that bans self-promotion. (Roku does not operate its own page on the platform.)
Fox’s motivation in acquiring Roku was the platform’s sizable advertising and subscription income — Roku earned $1.5 billion in revenue during its most-recent financial quarter, of which $1.3 billion came from its platforms business. During the same period, Fox earned nearly $2.1 billion in advertising revenue from its broadcast and cable networks, Fox One and steaming platform Tubi.
Securing regulatory approvals meant Fox had to enter into a consent degree with U.S. Department of Justice antitrust regulators, promising not to overly promote its own interests over competitors on Roku’s platform for at least a few years. Fox also must maintain certain business-related firewalls with respect to third-party data collected by Roku, and must allow streamers to continue customizing and modifying parts of their Roku experience that were previously available before the transaction, to include swapping out the default screen saver.
