By BBC PARTNERS ITV TO RIVAL NETFLIX FOR VIDEO-ON-DEMAND SPACE
BlackBox Nigeria reports that a formidable rival may be on ground to challenge the loyalty enjoyed by popular streaming service, Netflix as British broadcaster ITV is teaming up with publicly-funded rival the BBC to create “BritBox”, which will operate from the United Kingdom.
ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said earlier today, Wednesday February 27th 2019 that the partnership, which is close to being concluded, would bring a new video-on-demand offering to British audiences.
“This will provide an unrivalled collection of British boxsets and original series in one place,”
“We anticipate that other partners will be added to BritBox and we will both speak to regulators and the wider industry about our proposals.” she said.
The service, which will launch in the second half of 2019, will be priced competitively, the two companies said, without giving details.
The BBC, which is funded by a license fee paid by all TV-watching Britons, and ITV are already working together on a streaming service, also called BritBox, in North America.
BBC Director General Tony Hall said the new service would deliver home-grown content to the audience that loved it best.
“The service will have everything from old favorites to recent shows and brand new commissions,” he said.
He said research had shown viewers embraced streaming and would be willing to add the service to current subscriptions, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sky.
The BBC and ITV already offer a limited range of programs via free streaming services iPlayer and ITV Hub respectively.
ITV, the broadcaster of soap opera “Coronation Street” and reality show “Love Island”, announced the tie-up along with 2018 results that saw adjusted earnings fall 4 percent to 810 million pounds ($1.1 billion), slightly ahead of forecasts by Citi analysts.
It said it was performing strongly on screen but economic and political uncertainty in Britain would cause advertising revenue for the first four months of 2019 to fall by 3-4 percent.
Ad revenue for March, the month in which Britain is due to leave the European Union, would be down 17 percent, ITV said, which is not as bad as the 20 percent drop some analysts had forecast.
April was forecast to be up between 6 percent and 10 percent, boosted by the timing of Easter, it added.
ITV shares were down almost 2 percent in early trading.
