The BBC and ITV-led streaming service Britbox launches today after announcing a content deal with Channel 4.
The initiative, brought on by the rise of Netflix, promises to offer the full spectrum of British TV boxsets, including the likes Doctor Who, Love Island, Gavin and Stacey, and Only Fools and Horses.
The service, which has already launched in the US and Canada, hopes to differentiate itself from competitors by focusing only on British made content. The UK version is 90% owned by ITV with the BBC taking a minority 10% holding.
A new partnership with Channel 4 will provide Britbox with over 1,000 hours of content over the course of the three-year deal, with Channel 4 shows becoming available on the service 31 days following transmission of the last episode. In 2020, films from Channel 4’s Film4 will be added to the service.
Subscribers can now access all of the content on Britbox for £5.99 a month on a range of devices. Samsung will be the first TV maker to launch the BritBox app which will appear as a “Recommended App” on Samsung Smart TVs.
