Roku is expanding its portfolio of exclusive sports rights with its latest agreement to become the official streaming platform for the X Games. Originally founded by ESPN and later sold to private equity in 2022, the X Games showcases extreme sports competitions. The partnership will begin in January with the X Games Aspen event and include a significant summer competition later in the year.
Notably, the X Games will stream on the newly launched Roku Sports Channel, accompanied by the introduction of an X Games FAST channel and an X Games Zone, a dedicated streaming hub for the competition and related content.
Joe Franzetta, head of sports for Roku Media, said, “This partnership with X Games is the perfect marriage between content and distribution—more than half of The Roku Channel’s monthly FAST audience are between the ages of 18 and 49, and the X Games have built a lifestyle brand that sits right at the intersection of sports and youth culture. We look forward to using the reach of Roku to make these competitions — and the athletes at the heart of it all — accessible to millions of viewers for free.”
Additionally, Roku entered the sports streaming market last year with an exclusive deal for Formula E and has since added NBA G League games, MLB games, and streaming rights to popular shows like NFL Network’s Good Morning Football and The Rich Eisen Show. To showcase its growing sports offerings, Roku launched its dedicated Roku Sports Channel earlier this summer.
Jeremy Bloom, CEO of the X Games, said, “As the new CEO of X Games, I’m thrilled to announce this partnership with Roku, a platform that shares our commitment to delivering the best possible experience for our athletes and fans. This collaboration ensures that the world’s premier action sports events will reach a broader audience, while celebrating the brilliance, creativity, and passion of the incredible athletes who make the X Games the ultimate stage for action sports.”