Variety: Roku Sets Streaming Deal With X Games for Aspen Return, Summer 2025 Event

Story from Variety:

Roku has struck a deal with the X Games for its Roku Channel to become the U.S. streaming home of both the upcoming Winter 2025 competition in Aspen as well as an event set for next summer.

The X Games competitions will stream on the Roku Sports Channel. Roku also plans to launch a new X Games TV FAST channel, and create an “X Games Zone” to launch on Roku in the lead up to the live events, which it describes as “a one-stop destination for fans to browse, discover, and stream everything X Games including programming highlights, clips, interviews, archival content and more.”

This marks Roku’s latest move into live sports following partnerships with Formula E, NBA G League and MLB Sunday Lead Off, and alongside its sports-centric talk shows, “GMFB: Overtime” and “The Rich Eisen Show.”

The X Games Aspen, which is mainly comprised of skiing and snowboarding competitions, will take place from Jan. 23-25 in Aspen, Colo. The X Games have already unveiled plans for next year’s summer games to take place in Sacramento, and Roku says details about an additional summer event that will be streamed on Roku will be forthcoming.

The Roku deal comes two years after ESPN, which founded the X Games in 1994, sold a majority interest in the competition series to private-equity firm MSP Sports Capital in 2022. Currently, ESPN retains a minority ownership stake in the X Games and remains its linear TV partner.

Back in June, the X Games announced it would be shifting to a team-based league structure over the full calendar year beginning in 2026.

“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,” Roku Media head of sports Joe Franzetta said. “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.”

“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,” X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom said. “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.”