BritBox may have excited many a UK couch potato after ITV plc (LON:ITV) and the BBC announced a joint venture in February to bring the streaming platform to British audiences, but for viewers in the US it is nothing new.
Put simply, BritBox is a subscription streaming service similar to Netflix and Amazon Prime, except the content library is made up of shows from the BBC and ITV archives.
These include series such as Doctor Who, EastEnders and Coronation Street as well as comedies such as Blackadder.
Since its launch in March 2017, the service has only been available to customers in the US and Canada with a monthly subscription starting at around US$7, on par with its bigger rivals.
But that is all set to change when UK punters are finally able to access their own version of the service in the second half of 2019.
However, questions are already being raised around how the service can compete in a streaming market dominated by established players locked in a fierce battle over exclusive content and subscriber cash.
Why now?
The immediate question is that as the service has been serving North American customers since 2017, why has it taken so long for ITV and the BBC to open the doors to UK subscription payers?
One reason is that when BritBox was launched back in 2017, it was mainly an avenue for the BBC and ITV to monetise their content to a wider audience directly, rather than through syndication deals with domestic networks which often split the profits.
Roddy Davidson, an analyst at broker Shore Capital, adds that at the time of BritBox’s launch, rival streaming services had been “less well-evolved internationally” and that now the market had shifted and viewing habits were moving toward streaming and away from traditional TV watching.
Regulation could also have played a role in delaying a UK BritBox, with Davidson citing the case of Kangaroo, a platform developed by the BBC in partnership with ITV and Channel 4 to serve as an online content catalogue, which was blocked by the Office of Fair Trading in 2008 on the grounds that it could become “too powerful” and hurt competition in the media sector.
“[The broadcasters] have had a lot of hoops to jump through to get to this point…I don’t think the delay is exclusively because they haven’t been aware of the marketplace”, Davidson says.
However, while the UK version of BritBox may be late to the game to try and take on the established players, Davidson maintains that it is “a sensible strategy” for broadcasters to try and grab a slice of the streaming pie.
Can it compete?
Given that BritBox is appearing on the streaming scene at a rather late juncture, the next issue revolves around whether the platform will ultimately be able to compete with its rivals.
“It will all come down to the price”, Davidson says, with ITV and the BBC remaining tight-lipped on how much a subscription to BritBox will cost.
However, taking a look at a US BritBox subscription can provide an approximate figure, with the monthly cost currently standing at around £5.40, just below Netflix’s basic package of £6 per month.
This would put BritBox comfortably within the normal streaming price range, and with ITV having previously said that consumers are open to paying for multiple subscriptions, the platform could exist alongside others rather than directly competing.
So will we see all BBC and ITV content permanently vanish from other streaming platforms? Not necessarily.
"The BBC and ITV will view other streaming services as an opportunity for their production businesses…They will definitely seek to make programmes for Netflix or Amazon and sell them as that is an important part of their business revenues," Davidson says.
Instead, BritBox is more likely to serve as an archive of older content rather than new series, allowing the broadcasters to maintain exclusivity on vintage shows while leaving open the opportunity to produce new series and earn money from other platforms.
ITV may particularly be eyeing up the fat programming budgets of Netflix and Amazon having previously seen success from its content production division, ITV Studios, in creating dramas like Bodyguard and Line of Duty, both of which have drawn major viewing figures and syndication interest.
How much will it cost?
Much like its subscription rates, the total cost of setting up BritBox remains unclear, although in its last set of full year results in February ITV said it would invest up to £25mln in BritBox in 2019 and around £40mln in 2020 before declining thereafter.
While the BBC’s investment figure is unknown, if the costs of the joint venture are split equally BritBox could see £130mln worth of investment over the next two years alone.
Where does that leave iPlayer and ITV Hub?
With the advent of a combined content archive, questions will now likely be raised around the future of the BBC and ITV’s existing on-demand services, iPlayer and ITV Hub.
Davidson says that these platforms will likely make a return to their roots as catch-up services, where programmes that have been recently broadcast are shown online for several days before being removed.
BritBox, meanwhile, will be “a much more comprehensive platform”, giving greater choice than even the existing offerings from both iPlayer and ITV Hub.
Whether this means people discovering classics or simply watching Love Island on repeat remains to be seen.