BBC and ITV Take on Netflix

BBC and ITV team up to launch new streaming channel showing classic shows.

23:20 05 March 2019

The BBC and ITV are set to take on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video with a new streaming channel that aims to bring back classic shows at the touch of a button.

 

According to the Sunday Times, the £5 subscription will allow viewers instant access to shows such as Absolutely Fabulous, Fawltry Towers and Midsomer Murders.   

 

It is believed that the two companies have taken inspiration from Britbox, a joint BBC-ITV streaming platform that launched in America two years ago. It currently has more than 400,000 paying subscribers.

 

Kevin Lygo, ITV’s director of television, said: “It seems mad that we can’t make our archive and the BBC’s archive available to people at the press of a button.”

 

However, some analysts are skeptical about the launch and the service’s potential to match Netflix, which currently has 10million subscribers in the United Kingdom.

 

Tom Harrington, of Enders Analysis, said: “Will households with Netflix and Amazon think they really need a third one?”