BritBox joins battle of the streaming giants - Sky News, Sky.com

BritBox – the new paid-for streaming service from the BBC and ITV – has launched.

The joint-venture platform will also show content from Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Image: Olivia Colman as DS Ellie Miller and David Tennant as DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch. Pic: ITV

It the first time programs from the UK’s main terrestrial channels will be available through one catch-up service.

BritBox was successfully launched in America more than two years ago, with a specially curated catalog of content, and now has 650, 000 subscribers.

The majority of UK content will be classic series – including Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and Absolutely Fabulous.

More recent favorites like Downton Abbey, Love Island and Broadchurch will also be available.

Doctor Whofans can look forward to more than 600 vintage episodes of the show filmed between 1963 and 1989 in the run-up to Christmas.

Shows will not appear on BritBox until they have dropped off free-to-useBBCiPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4, where they can stay for up to a year.

This means viewers will have to wait before hits like Killing Eve, Bodyguard and Peaky Blinders arrive.

Some archive shows have recently been re-claimed from Netflix, in readiness for the new BritBox service.

Amber Gill and Greg O'Shea have won Love Island. Pic: ITV — Image: Love Island will be available on the service. Pic: ITV

Despite a focus on past dramas, there will also be some original shows.

The Handmaid’s Tale star, Ann Dowd, will appear in Lambs Of God, about a group of nuns living on a remote island.

BritBox joins a crowded streaming market, withNetflixandAmazonPrime Video leading the way.

AppleTV joined the fray just last week, while Disney launches in the US next week, and the UK early next year.

Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor, amid the Daleks in 1974 — Image: Doctor Who fans have a treat in store, pictured here Fourth Doctor Tom Baker in 1974

BritBox’s group director for streaming, Reemah Sakaan, says the familiarity of many of the BritBox shows is one of its biggest draws.

“Ostensibly the other streamers are US-focused so they make dramas for the US market, whereas BritBox is the faces, people and places that you know. “

Some viewers have expressed concern at the prospect of paying to watch programs already funded by the license fee, which costs £ 154. 50 per year.

preview image — Britbox: ‘We know what competing with Netflix looks like’

However, the BBC has defended the decision, saying the platform serves a “secondary market”.

Last summer, BBC director-general Lord Hall told critics it was similar to the release of a program on DVD following its initial TV release.

Money made though the service will be put back into program making.

In 2009 – ahead of the rise of Netflix – the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 attempted to launch a video-on-demand service featuring their content, but the venture was blocked by the UK competition regulator.

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Streaming platforms compared

Britbox£ 5. 99 per month / £ (per annum)

Content: Love Island, Gavin & Stacey, Victoria

Netflix(standard tier): £ 8. ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************** (per month / £) per annum

Content: Stranger Things, The Crown

Amazon Prime () based on cheaper annual tariff (£ 6.) per month / £ 79 per annum

Content: Good Omens, Man in the High Castle, The Grand Tour

AppleTV (£ 4.) per month / £ 60 per annum

Content: The Morning Show, shows from Oprah Winfrey, Stephen Spielberg

Disney (£ 5.) per month / £ 72 per annum (estimated)

Content: Star Wars, Avengers, The Simpson, Avatar

NOW TVEntertainment pass £ 8. 99 per month / no annual fee

Content: Chernobyl, Succession, Watchmen