Artist Jim Sachs will not renew Roku's license for the Marine Aquarium animation known on Roku OS as Aquatic Life, after Fox completed its purchase of Roku, Ars Technica reported Friday¹.

Roku OS users this week received notices that the screensaver would no longer be available after Dec. 1, Ars said, citing Cord Cutters News as first reporting the alerts¹.

Ars said Roku had licensed the animation from Sachs through Prolific Publishing for 10 years¹. Sachs, who created the work at SereneScreen and holds the copyright, told Ars the license came up for renewal each October and either side could cancel it¹.

A day after learning Fox planned to buy Roku, Sachs told Prolific he would not renew, Ars reported¹. "I can't be part of the Fox world," he told the outlet, citing Fox News' news and entertainment style¹.

Roku will switch affected devices to the Roku City screensaver, which Ars said includes subtle advertisements, according to the user notice¹.

Sachs told Ars that Roku asked him to restore the license¹. He said the agreement paid $80,000 a year for exclusive set-top rights or $60,000 non-exclusive, and that Roku had always chosen exclusive terms¹. Ars said it asked Roku to confirm those figures and did not hear back before publication¹.

Sachs said the Roku deal was his primary income and that ending it had major financial consequences, though he expected to cover a high property-tax bill and other small expenses¹. The screensaver remains for sale on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, Ars reported¹.

Ars said Fox closed its acquisition of Roku on Friday for $22 billion¹. Sachs told the outlet he had no expectation that pulling the license would change Fox's business, and that he would restore it if that model changed¹.

Sources

1. Ars TechnicaArtist pulls popular screensaver from Roku OS because of Fox acquisition2:50 PM

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