BBC and ITV to launch Netflix rival in UK
THE BBC and ITV are preparing to launch a streaming service to rival Netflix in the UK by the end of the year.
The BritBox catch-up service will charge viewers a ‘ competitive’ fee to watch archive BBC and ITV shows on demand. Channel 4 and Channel 5 are also said to be in talks to join.
Bosses refused to say exactly how much users will be charged, but it is expected to be about £5 a month – 99p cheaper than a ‘basic’ Netflix subscription.
The service – launched in the US and Canada in 2017 – will offer past episodes of everything from Love Island to Broadchurch. There will also be original British shows commissioned which will make their debut on BritBox.
But the news that viewers will be offered a paid-for subscription on top of the existing TV licence fee of £150.50 a year was met with an immediate backlash on social media. One Twitter user said: ‘Getting charged twice for the programmes we’ve paid to have made. Can’t wait.’
ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said the subscription service was a response to ‘consumer demand for a distinctively British service’.
She also played down the idea of competing with Netflix, insisting that the two services would ‘complement’ each other. BBC’s director general Lord Tony Hall said BritBox would deliver ‘the best home-grown content to the public who love it best’.
FIguREHEAd of the European Research group of hard Tory Brexiteers, Jacob Rees-Mogg has been one of the most trenchant critics of Theresa May’s deal. But in today’s Mail he strikes a much more conciliatory tone.
No longer must the Withdrawal Treaty be reopened to solve the Northern Ireland ‘backstop’. As long as the backstop has a legally-binding time limit, he now thinks the precise mechanism is immaterial.
Could it be that Mr Rees-Mogg, often blamed for sabotaging the deal, now wants to be its saviour? Has he finally accepted the alternative may be no Brexit?
If he can bring ERg colleagues with him on a journey towards sensible compromise, he will be much blessed – both by his leader and the country at large.
For all the disappointments, disloyalties and wrecking amendments, this deal is not dead yet. With good faith and pragmatism, it could still be dragged over the line. Then we can get on with our lives. AS the BBC joins ITV to create a new subscription service streaming old television programmes the Corporation hopes to enjoy a lucrative new income stream. So as we’ve paid for these programmes already, shouldn’t they use the profits to cut the licence fee? Or perhaps to fund free licences for the over-75s?