BBC And ITV To Launch Netflix Rival

The BBC and ITV are in the "concluding phase of talks" to establish a Netflix rival to be named BritBox.

The two broadcasters have agreed a joint vision for the service and are now working on a formal legal agreement. The BBC and ITV expect that other partners will be added to BritBox and both companies have confirmed they will speak to regulators and the wider industry about their plans.

BritBox would be an original streaming service providing an unrivalled collection of British boxsets and original series, on demand, all in one place, and would provide:
• The biggest collection of British content available on any streaming service
• Brand new commissions for British production companies specifically created for BritBox

Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, said: "I am really pleased that ITV and the BBC are at the concluding stage of discussions to launch a new streaming service.
"BritBox will be the home for the best of British creativity - celebrating the best of the past, the best of today and investing in new British originated content in the future."

Speaking about the news live from one of UK's leading exhibitions for the media and broadcast industry, BVE, which is currently taking place at ExCel in London, Event Director Terry Washington said: "The creative industry contributed close to £92 billion to the UK's economy in 2016, growing at twice the rate of the UK economy and it needs to stay alive. In an age of digital and political disruption, it's now time for the UK creative industry to come together and BritBox is a prime example of strategic partnering to bring an exciting new streaming service to UK audiences. It promises to bring a transformational SVOD service that celebrates the best of British content and plays to the demands of audiences in a market where streaming subscribers are growing at a rapid rate. The industry should continue to future-proof, protect and drive forward Britain's unique TV and film ecology which contributes so much to our economy and culture."

President of Cubic Motion, Andy Wood, who is also a speaker at the event, said: "No surprises here. I think this may just be the beginning. We have read that there are over 5 billion smartphones on the planet, with over 2 billion consuming up to an hour’s content a day. We've watched this closely at Cubic Motion. This was pivotal in our decision to make our performance driven facial animation of hi-fidelity CGI digital characters in real-time available for licence - 'Persona'. Directly targeted at the exponential boom in episodic content."

Oliver Kadel, Co-Founder & Audio Lead at 1.618 Digital, who is also hosting a session at BVE, said: "I was really excited to hear the news about the announcement of BBC and ITV teaming up to launch Netflix rival 'BritBox'. The film industry is in very good health at the moment and the timing couldn't be better for such an initiative. The UK has a great heritage in fictional and documentary film making and there is no shortage of local talent working in the industry delivering top class content. Depending on the scale of this ambition we can certainly expect a boost to the economy in this sector, which can only be good news for local businesses and suppliers."