Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Roku is offering massive discounts of up to 90% on over 30 streaming subscriptions, including deals on Starz, Hallmark+, and Apple TV.
- Most offers are valid for only about two months and are mainly targeted at new or returning subscribers, not existing users.
- The discounted pricing in the US expires on May 24, after which subscriptions automatically revert to their normal monthly rates.
Black Friday may belong to November, but Roku clearly decided that waiting until the end of the year is overrated. The company has launched what is essentially its own mini streaming holiday, slashing prices on more than 30 premium subscriptions by up to 90%. And yes, some of these deals are genuinely tempting.
Among the highlights, Roku is offering a 7-day free trial for Howdy, an Apple TV deal that drops the price to $5.99 per month instead of $12.99 for two months, Starz is down to $1.99 per month from its usual $11.99, while Hallmark+ is also getting a heavy discount at $1.99 instead of $7.99 for two months.
There are similar offers floating around for services like Lifetime Movie Club, Faith & Family, Shout! TV, and Frndly TV, among others. Sure, it sounds like a streaming fan’s dream. But there’s a catch, actually, several of them.
Most of these discounts last only about two months, which means the low pricing is more of a short-term teaser than a permanent win. Once that promo window closes, the subscriptions quietly jump back to their regular monthly rates. That $1.99 deal suddenly becomes $11.99 before you know it, and streaming services are probably counting on the fact that many people simply won’t cancel in time.
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There’s another detail longtime Roku users may not love: many of these offers are aimed squarely at new or returning subscribers. So if you’ve been paying full price for Roku already, Roku’s “holiday spirit” doesn’t exactly extend to you.
That’s really what this promotion is about. Roku isn’t just handing out discounts because it’s feeling generous. This is a classic ecosystem play — lure people in with absurdly cheap pricing, get them hooked on a few extra subscriptions, and hope they stick around once the normal billing kicks in.
To be fair, that strategy isn’t unique to Roku. Nearly every streaming company does this now. But Roku packaging it like a celebratory sales event of its own is admittedly a clever spin on the usual subscription bait. If you’re in the US and still interested, though, there’s a deadline attached. Roku says these offers expire on May 24, so anyone planning to jump between streaming apps at bargain-bin prices doesn’t have much time left to decide.
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