Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood told the outlet that the service is “a response to the reality that many consumers are interested in a service that is ad-free and low-cost. A large part of subscription viewing is library content. We feel Howdy is in an excellent position to win over those viewers who want to unwind with some of their favorite movies and TV shows, uninterrupted.”
Roku has quickly become a leading platform because of its free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) model. Other streamers have introduced ads, but you still have to pay for the subscription; Netflix’s ad tier, for example, costs $7.99 a month. (Remember when that was the price for the streamer’s ad-free subscription?) Howdy, meanwhile, is even cheaper and comes sans the commercials that the streaming boom initially promised to exclude from your viewing experience. So while streaming services are reinventing cable but worse, Roku is apparently reinventing streaming but better.
Howdy is billing itself as quintessential “comfort” viewing. “We don’t have everything, but we do have almost everything you want to watch,” a new ad for the ad-free service proclaims. The library is stocked with series and features from Warner Bros. Discovery, Lionsgate and other suppliers (as well as Roku Originals), including titles like Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Elvis, P.S. I Love You, Dirty Dancing, and more. Howdy is currently only available to users in the U.S., and can be found on any Roku device or via Roku’s website or app.
