Roku, Inc. purchased This Old House Ventures for $97.8 million in cash in March of 2021. If you're used to watching "This Old House" and "Ask This Old House" on PBS, you don't have to worry about the shows being removed from that network. But Roku's acquisition of this popular brand does result in more ways for you to watch. Here is how you can watch these great home improvement shows on Roku and other platforms.
The home improvement TV series "This Old House" (also referred to as "TOH") premiered on PBS in 1979. Originally produced by Boston PBS station WGBH-TV and starring Bob Vila, the show has since gone on to spin off a related series, "Ask This Old House", and a magazine. Time Inc. acquired the TV assets of this franchise in 2001, forming This Old House Ventures. "This Old House" has received 19 Emmy awards since 1979, the lastest in 2021. Roku, Inc. reported that "This Old House" and "Ask This Old House" were the two top-rated home improvement programs in the U.S. in 2020, according to Nielsen data.
While TOH and Ask TOH will continue to be available on local PBS and Create TV stations, where new episodes generally premiere on Thursdays or Saturdays, you can also stream these shows and additional TOH content on these Roku apps:
- This Old House - This Roku app has the most-comprehensive library of TOH content available. Viewers can stream for free the current season and four most recent seasons each of This Old House (currently seasons 39-43) and Ask This Old House (seasons 16-20), with new episodes added every Monday. Insider subscribers ($10/month or $96/year) also have ad-free access to every season and every episode of This Old House and Ask This Old House. The TOH app is also available for AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android and iOS devices.
- The Roku Channel – Roku's flagship app adds new episodes of the current seasons of This Old House and Ask This Old House every Monday for free streaming. Select past seasons of both shows are also available on demand and stream on the This Old House live (linear) channel (channel 456 in the US, channel 340 in Canada). The This Old House Classic channel (channel 457 in the US, channel 341 in Canada) has classic episodes featuring hosts Bob Vila and Steve Thomas.
- This Old House Premium - Available with The Roku Channel, the This Old House Premium subscription (normal price $4.99/month, available for $0.99 for the first month through Jan 1, 2022) provides on-demand access to select seasons of This Old House (currently seasons 35-42), This Old House Classic (currently seasons 1-5), and Ask This Old House (currently seasons 11-20). This premium channel also has select episodes under a variety of topics that include Historic Homes - Lexington Colonial (15 episodes from season 36), but many of these categories are already available under TOH seasons 35-42.
- PBS App – If you keep up with This Old House and Ask This Old House and are interested only in the current season, you can find these episodes on the PBS app.
- Tubi – Select seasons of This Old House (currently seasons 37-41) and Ask This Old House (currently seasons 14-18) are available on demand.
- Peacock - Three seasons of This Old House (36, 39, and 40) and Ask This Old House (13, 16, and 17) are currently available on demand. The linear This Old House channel is also available on Peacock.
- Select seasons of This Old House and Ask This Old House available on demand and on the This Old House linear channel.
- Pluto TV – Episodes of This Old House and Ask This Old House are available on the This Old House linear channel (channel 618). Six seasons (13, 14, 16-19) of Ask This Old House are also available on demand.
- Xumo – Seasons 37-41 of This Old House and Seasons 14-17 of Ask This Old House are currently available on demand on Xumo. Episodes of both shows are also available on the This Old House linear channel (channel 478).
- YouTube – Select seasons of This Old House and Ask This Old House, as well as show segments and clips, are available on demand on the This Old House channel on the YouTube app.
- Prime Video – Select seasons and episodes of This Old House and Ask This Old House are listed on Amazon's Prime Video channel, but the ones we checked showed the individual videos as being unavailable.