Don’t forget there are no ads whatsoever on the BBC. I’d pay a small fee for the remaining UK channels never to show ads.
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BBC and ITV Announce UK 'BritBox' Streaming Service to Rival Netflix
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Don’t forget there are no ads whatsoever on the BBC. I’d pay a small fee for the remaining UK channels never to show ads.
'What can we do that is like Netflix?'
'-Well we're British, So how about 'Brit-' instead of 'Net-'?'
'Great, oh, and Box - that ends in X like Netflix!'
'-We can surely not fail this time with this incredible name that is so similar to Netflix.'
'-Well we're British, So how about 'Brit-' instead of 'Net-'?'
'Great, oh, and Box - that ends in X like Netflix!'
'-We can surely not fail this time with this incredible name that is so similar to Netflix.'
I’ve been using it in the US for about 6 weeks now. The interface is a bit clunky but most of the TV shows from my youth are there - Blackadder, Morse, as well as Coronation Street and Eastenders. Worth $6.99 per month for me.
Once upon a time; they actually made their own (copyrighted) programmes:
Wikipedia:
- 1996
- 7 June – The BBC is restructured by the Director-General, John Birt. In the new structure BBC Broadcast will commission programmes, and BBC Production will make them.
Which obviously means this separate entity is able to sell and profit from what is heavily subsidised, without any technical or legal requirement to give more than the bare minimum back to the 'publicly owned' company that diverts the licence fee funding to them.
I had a subscription to it to dive into the 26 years of surviving episodes of Classic Doctor Who. For some reason, they were missing episodes that one could purchase the DVD of the episode and I did that for the missing ones they did not have up. After I finished, I was hoping to watch The Sarah Jane Adventures and then Torchwood, but those series were not offered, so I cancelled my subscription. If any missing Classic Doctor Who episodes are ever found and offered for viewing, I will re-subscribe.
North American BritBox shows are highly-compressed 720p (same as BBC iPlayer on a computer) and look nowhere near as good as Netflix 1080p. The BritBox interface is adequate, but only barely.
If they seriously intend BritBox to rival Netflix, they are going to have to improve both the video quality and the interface.
(On the other hand, a North American BritBox subscription is about half of the price of Netflix HD, but then BritBox also has a fraction of the content that Netflix offers.)
If they seriously intend BritBox to rival Netflix, they are going to have to improve both the video quality and the interface.
(On the other hand, a North American BritBox subscription is about half of the price of Netflix HD, but then BritBox also has a fraction of the content that Netflix offers.)
Say it with me.... FLOP
I don't pay for a TV License so I'm sure as hell not going to pay for this. Why would I pay for second rate, poorly produced programs when for a lower price I can get Netflix.
The old terrestrial channels are producing utter crap in the uk these days, especially ITV, which is essentially a collection of about 30 employees, most of which are cheap ex reality show idiots, combined with either Ant & Dec, Holly & Phil or Dermot Oleary.
There is no audience for this new streaming service. Those who watch TV likely have Sky, Virgin or a Freeview/Freesat recorder. So they can record and watch the content, and catch up on iPlayer / ITV Hub....
That leaves absolutely nobody having any need to pay for this.
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Thats their problem. Shouldn't be overspending. They have a mandate to follow, they go way beyond that in expenditure, and have little to show for it. Acting like the poor old BBC needs our money to stop it going belly up is misleading. They take in a fair bit of cash from their wholly owned profit driven subsidiary BBC Worldwide, and are happy to push some expenditure to that arm to make it look like they are worse off than they are.
I don't pay for a TV License so I'm sure as hell not going to pay for this. Why would I pay for second rate, poorly produced programs when for a lower price I can get Netflix.
The old terrestrial channels are producing utter crap in the uk these days, especially ITV, which is essentially a collection of about 30 employees, most of which are cheap ex reality show idiots, combined with either Ant & Dec, Holly & Phil or Dermot Oleary.
There is no audience for this new streaming service. Those who watch TV likely have Sky, Virgin or a Freeview/Freesat recorder. So they can record and watch the content, and catch up on iPlayer / ITV Hub....
That leaves absolutely nobody having any need to pay for this.
[doublepost=1551310624][/doublepost]
Thats their problem. Shouldn't be overspending. They have a mandate to follow, they go way beyond that in expenditure, and have little to show for it. Acting like the poor old BBC needs our money to stop it going belly up is misleading. They take in a fair bit of cash from their wholly owned profit driven subsidiary BBC Worldwide, and are happy to push some expenditure to that arm to make it look like they are worse off than they are.
One technical point of interest.
Since it began offering "HD", BBC iPlayer has always only offered 720p as the highest version of content. However, the same programmes broadcast over Freeview are frequently in 1080p; strangely they have never made available FHD (Full HD, 1080p) versions on iPlayer – despite recent home broadband being well able to handle it.
(and yes, BBC Freeview broadcasts can also often be at the near-720p bandwidth: 1080i).
The same thing with ITV, except they took an age to release even 720p, on their ITV Player only recently.
_________
I don't know what US/CA audiences are getting on their version of this service, but I suspect both channels have been savings themselves for FHD-quality streaming, ever since the BBC Store failed due to lack of demand?
£3/mth (=£36/yr) maximum at the moment. Then if they add Channel 4, and maybe some other stuff, THEN they can raise it to £5/mth (=£60/yr). But I wouldn't pay the latter for it, and certainly wouldn't pay anything for it, if they didn't offer minimum 1080p (to recent stuff, not 1960-90s stuff obviously), and very recent stuff arriving soon at the 4K modern audiences will desire as 4K TVs proliferate into HDR 4K TVs.
It's 2019, and they're already late to the party.
Since it began offering "HD", BBC iPlayer has always only offered 720p as the highest version of content. However, the same programmes broadcast over Freeview are frequently in 1080p; strangely they have never made available FHD (Full HD, 1080p) versions on iPlayer – despite recent home broadband being well able to handle it.
(and yes, BBC Freeview broadcasts can also often be at the near-720p bandwidth: 1080i).
The same thing with ITV, except they took an age to release even 720p, on their ITV Player only recently.
_________
I don't know what US/CA audiences are getting on their version of this service, but I suspect both channels have been savings themselves for FHD-quality streaming, ever since the BBC Store failed due to lack of demand?
£3/mth (=£36/yr) maximum at the moment. Then if they add Channel 4, and maybe some other stuff, THEN they can raise it to £5/mth (=£60/yr). But I wouldn't pay the latter for it, and certainly wouldn't pay anything for it, if they didn't offer minimum 1080p (to recent stuff, not 1960-90s stuff obviously), and very recent stuff arriving soon at the 4K modern audiences will desire as 4K TVs proliferate into HDR 4K TVs.
It's 2019, and they're already late to the party.
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And monumentally incorrect.
Ofcom rules are that a maximum average of 12 minutes of adverts can be shown in any hour. across the day, with a maximum of 9 minutes. Between 18:00 and 23:00 there is a maximum of 8minutes in any clock hour (E.g. ITV).
Non-public service channels (C4, C5 & S4C) have a maximum of 12 minutes advertising in any clock hour. And usually no more than 3:50 in any one ad slot.
As an (Ex) Tv scheduler, I should get out more.
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Interesting, but promos for other shows don't count so:-
An average series in a 60 minute slot could be made up of 42 minutes of the programme, 12 minutes of adverts (maximum allowed by Ofcom), 6 minutes of promos/trailers for other shows. We're monthly three mins apart
Interesting, but promos for other shows don't count so:-
An average series in a 60 minute slot could be made up of 42 minutes of the programme, 12 minutes of adverts (maximum allowed by Ofcom), 6 minutes of promos/trailers for other shows. We're monthly three mins apart
UK hour long shows on ITV tend to be about 45-46 mins.
One Stop Shops are good for consumers, but companies and coporations want to make the most from their product. UK People have been happy to pay for old BBC content for ages (whether that be through netflix, prime, or buying DVD), it's only now some complain when the BBC say they're doing Britbox.
Britbox isn't madatory either, you don't have to subscribe.
So do you need a TV licence to watch Britbox in the UK? At the moment, even if you don't watch live TV - if you download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer you need the licence.
If you can watch BBC content on this service without the need for a licence (for £5 a month) then where will that leave the BBC going forward? If it has enough content to make it worthwhile then lots of people will subscribe and then just declare they don't watch live TV. It will certainly be interesting for lawyers.
If you can watch BBC content on this service without the need for a licence (for £5 a month) then where will that leave the BBC going forward? If it has enough content to make it worthwhile then lots of people will subscribe and then just declare they don't watch live TV. It will certainly be interesting for lawyers.
Unlike the US, pretty much all of the BBC's and ITV's archive material from the 70's, 80's and 90's is on 625-line VT rather than film. There's not a great deal they can economically do to improve the quality, and they certainly can't improve the resolution.
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True, but if the BBC intends to stream newer, HD material via BritBox and charge a subscription fee, video quality will become an issue.
In the US, for example, Call the Midwife is available on Netflix, where it looks fabulous in 1080p HD, and noticeably better than the 720p versions I’ve seen on BBC iPlayer in the UK. If the BBC streams Call the Midwife on BritBox in the UK, it won’t look any worse than it does now on iPlayer on a computer (it will look worse than iPlayer on a TV), but then Auntie Beeb isn't charging a separate subscription for iPlayer (it’s covered by the TV license fee).