BritBox UK Streaming Service Launches for £5.99 per Month

[displaced]

How different is this to people buying DVDs of BBC Shows? There is none.

Exactly - iPlayer, 4oD and all the other free services are going nowhere.

This is getting silly now. It's actually cheaper now to get a freaking cable subscription than all of these streaming services.

No - darkcompass is correct. You know the section of HMV where you can get "A Bit of Fry And Laurie - The Complete Series" or "Emmerdale - The Best of Seth" (yeah, I made that up) DVD box sets for £8.99 a pop? That's what this is.

 

[Even Longer]

Why not the rest of Europe?

Because Brits think they are the rest of Europe.

 

[Brian Y]

Exactly - iPlayer, 4oD and all the other free services are going nowhere.



No - darkcompass is correct. You know the section of HMV where you can get "A Bit of Fry And Laurie - The Complete Series" or "Emmerdale - The Best of Seth" (yeah, I made that up) DVD box sets for £8.99 a pop? That's what this is.

And I'll remind you of this:

ITV Pull Shows From Netflix Amid Rumours Of UK Based Service

UK based TV station has begun pulling shows from Netflix amid rumours of a new UK based Streaming service.

www.eteknix.com

Pulling shows which were available on one streaming service, so you can sell them as a separate exclusive subscription - is the problem here.

This would be akin to them, back in the day, saying "right, we're pulling our shows from blockbuster... you can only get it from us".

The ironic thing is that streaming services worked (as in, got people away from piracy), because they were cheap and simple. Now they're neither - so if this continues it's probably just going to send people back to piracy.

 

[obiwan]

Already paid for these shows with my TV license, now they want me to pay again, Get stuffed BBC.

What, even the shows on ITV, Channel 4 & Channel 5? - They are not funded by the licence fee.

 

[rmoliv]

Why is this newsworthy on this site if it’s a UK-only service?

 

[testcard]

What, even the shows on ITV, Channel 4 & Channel 5? - They are not funded by the licence fee.

I hardly ever watch ITV, but hoping this means that paying for these channels via subscription means we won't have to sit through annoying adverts anymore.

"No ad breaks. Anywhere" according to the Britbox site.

 

[displaced]

And I'll remind you of this:

ITV Pull Shows From Netflix Amid Rumours Of UK Based Service

UK based TV station has begun pulling shows from Netflix amid rumours of a new UK based Streaming service.

www.eteknix.com

Pulling shows which were available on one streaming service, so you can sell them as a separate exclusive subscription - is the problem here.

This would be akin to them, back in the day, saying "right, we're pulling our shows from blockbuster... you can only get it from us".

The ironic thing is that streaming services worked (as in, got people away from piracy), because they were cheap and simple. Now they're neither - so if this continues it's probably just going to send people back to piracy.

Oh, I agree - the Balkanisation of streaming services is utter crap. But I can see why it's happening.

Netflix made its money by selling convenient access to other broadcasters' content. And if they stayed doing that, and the broadcasters were getting appropriate recompense for their content, everyone's happy. But, Netflix are now a competitor - creating their own shows with revenue earned from, in part, other people's content.

ITV and Channel 4 live or die on the quality of their shows. Netflix historically hasn't had that worry - people will keep subbing to watch all the other stuff.

This Balkanisation is inevitable when the producer and the distributor are the same.

We knew this when we set up commercial broadcasters in the UK. It's why the IBA handled transmission, whilst the ITV companies handled production. The moment a distributor competes with the producers, can you really blame the producers for looking elsewhere?

 

[obiwan]

Why is this newsworthy on this site if it’s a UK-only service?

Why is Disney Plus newsworthy if it's not available in the UK?

 

[PickUrPoison]

What, even the shows on ITV, Channel 4 & Channel 5? - They are not funded by the licence fee.

I hardly ever watch ITV, but hoping this means that paying for these channels via subscription means we won't have to sit through annoying adverts anymore.

Britbox is ad-free here in the States, probably the same for you.

 

[johnyslats]

Why is this newsworthy on this site if it’s a UK-only service?

Because believe it or not this site serves a global community

 

[thisisnotmyname]

didn't you folks in UK already pay for all of the content being used via a mandatory TV tax? How is it being charged to have access to your own content?

 

[rmoliv]

Why is Disney Plus newsworthy if it's not available in the UK?

But it will be, in 2020 I think.

 

[darkcompass]

didn't you folks in UK already pay for all of the content being used via a mandatory TV tax? How is it being charged to have access to your own content?

the TV Licence is a yearly licence for content broadcast or streamed for the year. Britbox is older shows.

 

[obiwan]

didn't you folks in UK already pay for all of the content being used via a mandatory TV tax? How is it being charged to have access to your own content?

No. Only BBC content is paid for by the licence fee, and it is a licence to watch it, not own the content. ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are funded by ad revenue.

What does the TV licence pay for?

 

[displaced]

didn't you folks in UK already pay for all of the content being used via a mandatory TV tax? How is it being charged to have access to your own content?

We can watch any of the stuff we've paid for via the license fee (or indeed, from commercial broadcasters) for free on our domestic catchup streaming services. That's 5 TV networks, streaming content from the last several years, for free.

Do US networks do the same?

(edit: I see CBS All Access and NBC's 'Peacock' are $5.99 and $6.99 each. Are there free services too?)

(edit2: I said we have 5 networks - I'm treating the UKTV channels as a fifth network in this case, as they do produce a decent amount of original content - so that's BBC, ITV, Channel Four, Five and UKTV)

 

[dfensom]

I think that BritBox is excellent. Good selection of content. If other people don't like it or think it's worth it, then don't pay for it. Simples...

 

[insoft.uk]

More and more are moving to free streaming services like movie box hd as all these services are not sharing so you have content split up on different payed services and no one is going to pay £5-9 each service why most have moved onto free services like movie box hd as it’s free and contains them all including Apple TV+, Netflix etc all the content in one place that’s were the future is heading

 

[jdoyle]

This fragmentation of streaming is going to send everyone back to piracy.

 

[GadgetBen]

All of these channels have their own independent streaming services and apps for free. Why would you pay for this?

 

[wolfshades]

I checked out Britbox’s offerings once. It, like every other streaming service I’ve checked does *not* carry the Graham Norton show, which I consider one of the Crown Jewels of Brit TV. Such a damned shame.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

I hope this comes to Australia as I’m signing up straight away.

forgrt Apple Disney Netflix amazon this is what I want

Quality, classic, intelligent tv at its very best

Living in the UK, I would say the opposite. This is not intelligent TV, it's the most mainstream old Brit stuff that has plagued old style TV since the 1950s.
Definitely not intelligent as you put it. The majority of iTV (99.9%) and BBC 'soaps' is repulsive
Quite horrible in fact!
I guess that it will be popular with the Brexit crowd.
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Why not the rest of Europe?

Living for a few months of the year in the UK, you honestly would not want to pay to watch this absolute rubbish!

 

[j_maddison]

Not if you watch it on a mobile device or on web

You still need a TV licence to watch live TV on a mobile or on the web. This doesn’t appear to be Live TV though, unless I’m mistaken, so no TV licence required to view the service on any device

 

[obiwan]

All of these channels have their own independent streaming services and apps for free. Why would you pay for this?

To watch ad-free and all in one place. Depends how much you hate watching adverts to whether it's worth it or not I guess...

 

[testcard]

You still need a TV licence to watch live TV on a mobile or on the web. This doesn’t appear to be Live TV though, unless I’m mistaken, so no TV licence required to view the service on any device

Most people in the UK have a better understanding of quantum mechanics than they do of how the TV licence works.

 

[mattopotamus]

I will pretend I did not read this as Birchbox.