BBC and ITV set to launch Netflix rival

General Chat 💬
1

Interesting, I guess BBC iPlayer was a game changer when it launched. Should be good to see what they come up with “BritBox”, but already the name suggests they are thinking local.

5 Likes
2

ITV realising no one wants to advertise to TV anymore and BBC realising no one wants to pay the license fee. You can live without TV these days.

4 Likes
3

I hope they rename / rebrand it. “BritBox” is awful

9 Likes
4

It’s aimed at the American market, where its been operating for a couple of months already, $6.99 a month is pretty good value for the internationally exclusive catalogue you get (use a VPN to see the live show-list).

For the UK and iPlayer, it makes pretty much zero sense however, especially with the popularity of C4 here.

1 Like
5

It’s launching in the UK ‘BBC director general Tony Hall said the aim was to launch “BritBox” in the UK the second half of 2019.’

But yes you are right it’s launched North America, they are said to have 500,000 subscribers according to the BBC article.

6

I’m pretty sure the BBC has said they aim to have more shows on iPlayer for longer? So unless the UK catalogue and price is reduced to just classic box sets and the upcoming exclusives I can’t really understand the motive. £3.99 for a replacement to the BBC Store, anyone?

1 Like
7

It’ll be tough, maybe they’ll start pulling content from iPlayer/ITV Hub to make it exclusive for the insularly named BritBox.

Guess the name could be worse if they picked BritFlix, or NetBox, or NetBrit :smile:

1 Like
8

Didn’t they already try something similar with project kangaroo? Feels a bit… a decade too late?

1 Like
9

That was blocked by the Competition Commission according to Wikipedia’s page for Kangaroo (video on demand). Might be more acceptable to launch it now in a world where YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, Netflix etc are all scrambling to monopolise a larger share of our attention.

3 Likes
10

The name is so similar to BirdBox :joy:

With the likes of Disney, Apple and now BBC/ITV there’s going to be so much competition within the video streaming space.

It will be interesting to see over the next few years who will have the largest market share.

2 Likes
11

If I was a betting man (which of course I am), my money would be on Disney.

4 Likes