BritBox is coming – here’s everything you need to know

What is BritBox?

It is a new streaming television service, provided as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV. Channel 4 may also join in due course. An existing BritBox service already exists on a modest scale in America, with half a million subscribers.

When will it be available in the UK?

The “second half” of this year, so we are told.

What will be on offer?

Director General of the BBC Tony Hall says: “BritBox will be the home for the best of British creativity, celebrating the best of the past, the best of today and investing in new British originated content in future…a new streaming service delivering the best home-grown content to the public who love it best. The service will have everything from old favourites to recent shows and brand new commissions”.

So, the initial emphasis will inevitably be on the vast back catalogues of both companies, going back to the 1950s. In principle, a viewer might chose to watch every episode of Coronation Street since it was first shown on 9 December 1960, or the 5,875 episodes of EastEnders made since 1986. Either would make for quite a binge.

Every Morse, every Doctor Who (at least the ones where the tapes haven’t been wiped), every Avengers, and every Dad’s Army; every Morecambe & Wise show, every recent hit drama such as The Night Manager or Vera – all would be available on demand, for a subscription fee.

In due course, though, the BBC and ITV hope to commission new series especially for BritBox, just as competitors such as Netflix and Amazon do. How and when these series might find their way onto their conventional channels is unclear.

Other things being equal, like many digital content providers in every field, they would have to offer their subscribers something special, which is not available for free elsewhere, to justify the fees.

How much will BritBox cost to the viewers?

There is speculation that it might be as little as £5 per month, though this has not been confirmed, beyond the BBC and ITV saying it will be “competitive”. As with other streaming services, it might be available direct or via other data providers, such as BT in the UK.

In principle, given the BBC’s charter, major licence fee funding might be problematic. ITV have pledged some £65million initially; the BBC will not comment on its financial commitment.

Why are the BBC and ITV doing this now?

The truth is, they have little choice. Streaming of high quality programming, using the Internet (and or satellite and cable) and bypassing traditional broadcasting methods, have caused massive disruption. Younger viewers, especially, are more likely to use the likes of Netflix, Amazon and YouTube for their video entertainment than they are to settle down with a cup of tea and a biscuit in front of Emmerdale or Newsnight.

This fragmentation of the market is something that conventional broadcasters such as ITV and the BBC have dreaded for years – the moment of “peak television”, beyond which viewing figures start to decline.

The traditional broadcasters are also attracted by the prospect of establishing a worldwide presence. Netflix, for example, has 56 million users – about the population of the UK. If BritBox can become a global player, then new possibilities for programming open up.

Netflix commissions well over 100 new series a year – more than anyone else on the planet. If BritBox succeeds, it will create a virtuous circle where new shows attract new subscribers, and the revenues from their fees and any accompanying advertising is used to commission more shows, which will attract more viewers, and so on.

If anything, the move is overdue. The new kids on the block have been eroding the BBC and ITV market share for some years. An attempt to create something like BritBox in the UK at the start of the decade was blocked by the competition authorities. They no longer seem inclined to do so.

Will it succeed?

Well, the BBC and ITV have a superb record when it comes to creating hit drama series in particular, many of which have been popular worldwide. Comedies, documentaries, nature and arts programming might also attract major new audiences through the new platform.

The BBC also has a global reputation for impartial and investigative news-gathering – an increasingly precious asset in a world of “fake news”.

Massive global hits such as The Crown (Netflix) or Game of Thrones (HBO) could easily have been made by the British broadcasters – but they now lack the financial heft to do so. To give one example, the budget for each episode of Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour is about £4.5million; for the BBC’s Top Gear it is £500,000.

The Beeb and ITV are simply being out-done commercially if not artistically. They are too small and too focused on the UK in what has rapidly become a globalised business.

So the talent (Olivia Colman, as a symbol), the creativity and the expertise are all there – London is already a world centre for post-production and the UK has excellent film and studio facilities.

What may be lacking is the business acumen that could really make the new service a success. ITV and BBC executives are simply too parochial and inexperienced in this field – as opposed to programme-making and dealing with awkward MPs – and would need to require some potentially expensive (possibly foreign) commercial nous to pilot them to success, just like Premier League football teams.

Alternatively, in the longer run, they might consider forming some sort of more cooperative relationship with the established streaming services, though again that would bring its own complications, not least because of the BBC's status as a state-owned broadcaster with no private shareholders and a unique agenda.

Can I watch the very latest episodes of Emmerdale or Endeavour on there?

Probably not. The idea is that the most recent and live material will still be broadcast on-line via the BBC’s existing iPlayer and ITV's Hub service (for all their various channels, including radio in the case of the BBC).

What about Brexit?

BritBox could be a pioneer of the new “global Britain”, an international player in a fast-developing market concentrating on the kind of value-added creative content that the world will pay good money for. British programming and show formats have traditionally sold well abroad, and this would be a massive extension of that tradition.

Early days, but BritBox could be transformational.