‘Scamflix’ is Beeb’s way of making us pay twice
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didn’t make that argument. And they don’t tend to when they watch BBC programmes on Netflix or elsewhere.
“In the old days, people just watched a show on the telly and that was it.
“They now get better value, especially as we’re trying to extend the iPlayer window to at least a year.”
Politicians also backed the new service. Labour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson said: “This has been a difficult time for our public service broadcasters, with challenges from massive international companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
“ITV and the BBC produce some of IF there is a way of getting more cash out of viewers, the hard-nosed bosses of the BBC will find it.
This hook-up with ITV should be called Scamflix, a way to make profits from the huge archive financed by millions of licence-payers over decades.
It’s an upside-down version of Hughie Green’s Double Your Money – pay twice for the same programme that was on the box years ago. Pensioners, the very best of British storytelling and it is right that they consider how they can continue to thrive in a world of ever-evolving technology.”
And Lib Dem culture spokeswoman Baroness Jane Bonham-Carter said: “It’s great that all the revenue from this new venture will be reinvested, creating more quality programming and British content.
“It’s absolutely right that audiences should, for the first time, have the choice of subscribing to a service that has British content at its heart.
“Both the BBC and ITV recognise how audiences are accessing their especially those threatened with the confiscation of their over-75’s free TV licence, will be hit yet again as they appreciate old films the most.
BBC iPlayer will continue to be free to licence-holders but for how long?
BritBox is a step towards total content and have produced a product that will make this content more accessible to more people.”
Yesterday, it emerged Channel 4 and Channel 5 are also in talks about joining the venture.
The plans have been unveiled 10 years after the Competition Commission vetoed a similar joint service, saying that British viewers “value” UK programmes and “do not regard other content as a good substitute”.
Since then, global rivals such as Netflix and Amazon have made their mark on British homes and demonstrated an appetite for US shows. ITV commercialisation of the nation’s publicly funded broadcaster.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Talking Pictures – Channel 81 on Freeview – gives a first-rate service of archive film. I’m an addict. Gideon? Dick Barton? Family at War? It’s all there.
Like the old movies, this is a blackand-white argument. As with the NHS, you pay for it once, so you shouldn’t have to go private. chief executive Carolyn McCall said BritBox would not be competing directly with Netflix, but would be “complementary”. She said: “Netflix is global… when we’re creating content, we’re creating it for the UK… We’re not a substitute to Netflix – we’re complementary to Netflix.”
The service would be “very good for British creative industries, because we are putting more money into the British creative industry”, she added.
Earlier she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “People in Britain really do want to see a place where there is a home for British content… It will be very distinctive because that actually doesn’t exist in Britain today.”
The BBC and ITV said they have enjoyed success with their BritBox streaming service in the US.
Talks on the new service have been taking place for more than a year.
A spokeswoman for broadcasting regulator Ofcom said: “We want to see broadcasters collaborating to keep pace with global players, by offering quality UK content that’s available to viewers whenever and however they want to watch it.”