Roku is jumping on the women’s sports train by announcing a new women’s sports-themed show. “Women’s Sports Now” will be hosted by former WNBA star and current co-owner of the Atlanta Dream Renee Montgomery, comedian Sarah Tiana, and veteran sports reporter Suzy Shuster, who will also executive produce the program. The show is a joint production between Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Rich Eisen Productions.
“I have an 11-year-old hooper who plays in three leagues, who wears a Caitlin Clark t-shirt every day of her life, and was Caitlin for Halloween, complete with a braid down to her waist with eyeballs in the back of her braid, because she said ‘Caitlin’s got eyeballs in the back of her head,” Shuster says. “And what I realized is there’s just no way for my daughter to see herself on television, except for rare opportunities pre- and post-WNBA games, NCAA games, some assorted programming. I wanted to create a show that she could see herself in.”
The show will examine the gamut of women’s sports, including professional and collegiate sports like basketball, soccer, volleyball, and more. Roku is excited to join the foray and tap into an audience that it feels is “underserved.”
“We want to reach an audience that is looking for the voice that the show is going to bring,” says Joe Franzetta, Roku’s head of sports. “We know it’s out there, and I think it rounds out our offering in many ways, in terms of the sports talk offering that we have. And we know sports talk does well on our platform. We think that this show is going to bring a unique perspective to that overall conversation.”
The show will pull from traditional studio shows with highlights and clips, combined with studio segments, guests, and banter between the hosts.
“If there’s a headline or a trending topic that’s happening in women’s sports, you can assume that we’re going to be covering it in some way, shape or form,” Montgomery says, adding that they wabnt to make the program as accessible as possible. “I think the the thing that this show is that’s most appealing about it is that it’ll be relatable to any level of sports fan, you don’t need to know a player’s name or stats or any of those details to come enjoy the show, because the show is going to be entertaining, it’s going to be fun.”
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