Roku is discontinuing its widely used Aquatic Life screensaver effective December 1, 2026, after the feature’s creator withdrew the company’s license in response to Roku’s pending acquisition by Fox Corporation. Jim Sachs told Cord Cutters News that he removed the screensaver because he was displeased with Fox buying Roku. Users on affected devices have begun seeing on-screen notifications stating that the screensaver will no longer be available after that date and that the system will default to Roku City. The change ends nearly a decade of availability for one of the platform’s most recognizable idle-screen options. Cord Cutters News first reported the removal of the screensaver on Monday.
The Aquatic Life screensaver is Roku’s licensed version of the Marine Aquarium product developed by Jim Sachs through his SereneScreen company. It presents a three-dimensional saltwater aquarium simulation featuring tropical fish, coral formations, sea life, and bubbling water. A translucent rock engraved with the Roku logo appears in the scene. The feature has been available primarily on 4K Roku devices since around 2017, often serving as a default or easily downloadable option. Many households treated it as a low-key background display for living rooms and bedrooms.
Sachs, a former U.S. Air Force pilot and longtime digital artist who began developing the aquarium concept in the early 2000s as an improvement on earlier Windows screensavers, announced the license withdrawal in a Reddit post that has since been removed. Cord Cutters News confirmed the details directly with Sachs. In the post, Sachs stated that he pulled Roku’s rights to use the Aquarium because of the company’s takeover by Fox. He indicated that the decision would create considerable financial hardship, as licensing revenue from the Roku arrangement had been a primary income source for roughly the past decade, but that he preferred the outcome over continued association with the new ownership. He explicitly clarified that the withdrawal was unrelated to any effort by Roku to insert advertising into the screensaver; the company had explored ads years earlier and later abandoned the idea.
The underlying corporate transaction is Fox Corporation’s agreement to acquire Roku in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $22 billion, announced on June 15, 2026. Under the terms, Roku shareholders are to receive $96 in cash plus roughly 0.97 shares of Fox Class A stock for each Roku share, with Fox shareholders expected to hold about 73 percent of the combined company after closing. Both companies’ shareholders approved the deal in mid-October 2026, and foreign regulatory clearances were completed by early November. The transaction remains subject to U.S. regulatory review, including a second request from the Department of Justice, and is projected to close in the first half of 2027. Roku founder Anthony Wood is expected to remain involved and join Fox’s board.
After December 1, devices set to Aquatic Life will switch to Roku City, a stylized urban scene introduced in 2017 that has grown to include promotional elements, interactive features, and advertisements. Roku continues to offer other screensavers through its Theme Store, including Jungle, Nautical, Star Trek: The Original Series, and seasonal options. The removal of Aquatic Life represents the end of a long-running partnership that brought a classic independent screensaver to millions of streaming devices.
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