BBC & ITV partner for US streaming service BritBox
Fox to air ‘24’ in 160 countries
LOS ANGELES, Dec 14, (RTRS): For nearly as long as the BBC and ITV have made their programming available for Brits to stream, there have been American viewers seeking various tech workarounds to gain access to those streams. Those efforts are about to be rendered moot — for a fee. British rivals BBC Worldwide and ITV are teaming up to tap into the US streaming marketplace with the forthcoming ad-free streaming subscription video on-demand (SVOD) service BritBox.
“The BBC and ITV are the two most prolific content producers and broadcasters in British television — both known for their unrivaled, ground-breaking shows,” said Ann Sarnoff, president, BBC Worldwide North America. “BritBox will offer a streaming experience like no other, with thousands of hours of programs across a wide variety of genres.”
AMC Networks, which operates BBC America as a joint venture with BBC Worldwide, will be taking a non-voting minority stake in the service.
BritBox will launch in the first quarter of 2017 in the US; details about price will be revealed then. At the start, the service will premiere dramas like “New Blood,” “In the Dark,” and “Silent Witness,” in addition to hosting a library of classics like “Pride and Prejudice,” “Fawlty Towers,” and “Upstairs Downstairs.” Certain current U.K. series, like “EastEnders” and “Emmerdale,” will be available for US customers to stream as early as 24 hours after they appear on British airwaves.
BritBox will theoretically compete with RLJ Entertainment’s Acorn TV SVOD service, which since 2011 has offered a fairly wide array of British series like “Poirot” for the price of $4.99 a month, or $49.99 for a year. In October, AMC Networks invested $65 million in RLJ Entertainment.
“The BBC and ITV each have a long history of creating spectacular premium content and some of the most iconic shows on television,” said Josh Sapan, president and CEO of AMC Networks. “We are delighted to expand our current partnership with BBC Worldwide and view this investment as a strategic opportunity for AMC Networks to participate in a digital platform dedicated to offering shows of the highest quality.”
SNL Kagan estimates that the US streaming market will be worth $8 billion by the end of 2016, which explains the presence of AMC Networks’ fingers in several different streaming pies. In 2015, AMC Networks betalaunched Shudder, a horror-specific streaming service that costs $4.99 a month (or $49.99 for a year). (Shudder was initially powered by the tech behind SVOD service DramaFever, which was acquired by Warner Bros. earlier in 2016.) AMC Networks also has SundanceNow, an SVOD service dedicated to documentaries and indie films and series, like French-language spy drama “The Bureau.”
Fox Networks Group will air “24: Legacy,” the next chapter in the Emmy Award-winning action series from 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television, in more than 160 countries, after the show’s Feb 5 premiere on Fox in the US
The series will air day-and-date — or at least within 24 hours of the US — across the majority of Fox’s territories. This is an established part of the studio’s international marketing strategy for viral, high-profile series, such as “The Walking Dead,” “Outcast,” and “Wayward Pines.”
Peter Rice, Fox Networks Group chairman and CEO, said: “The ‘24’ franchise is a true cultural phenomenon and we are excited to allow fans in these 160 countries to experience the next installment all at once. At a time when media is instantaneous and global, viewers around the world will now experience, in real time, the events of this series, which invented real-time storytelling.”
The “24” franchise, which premiered in 2001, has been nominated for 73 Emmy awards, winning for drama series in 2006. Over eight seasons, lead actor Kiefer Sutherland took seven Emmy nominations and one win for lead actor in a drama series. The most recent chapter in the franchise, “24: Live Another Day,” a 12-episode event series that premiered in 2014 on Fox, won three Emmy awards.
The long-awaited launch date for Amazon Prime Video in India is expected to be announced Wednesday in Mumbai.
It had been widely expected that the streaming service would launch at the time of India’s biggest holiday period, the Diwali festival in October, but that did not materialize.
In the meantime, however, Amazon India has been signing deals for existing and yetto-be-produced films with Bollywood studios Dharma Productions, T-Series and Vishesh Films. Among the films included in the deals are Dharma’s “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,” Vishesh’s “Jannat” and “Hamari Adhuri Kahaani”, and T-Series’ “Simran.”
The service is also expected to announce local non-feature film content. A series titled “Power Play,” about illegal betting in cricket, is already in production with Excel Entertainment, though Amazon has not officially confirmed this yet. Another show set in the gang world of small-town north India is expected to begin soon. Amazon executives were busy finalizing deals with a number of local content producers last month at India’s annual Film Bazaar, in Goa.
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