Brand new UK streaming service open for business partnerships struck with Channel 4, BT and EE

7 November 2019

• Multi-year deal struck with Channel 4 and Film4 bringing over a thousand hours to the service from 2020
• New BT partnership announced including EE as exclusive mobile partner
• BritBox features the biggest collection of British box-sets available in one place*
• All 627 available episodes of Classic Doctor Who, originally broadcast between 1963 and 1989, will be available to stream for the first time

London 7th November - BritBox, the streaming service created by BBC and ITV, today opened for business, bringing the greatest collection of British boxsets with the finest homegrown talent to viewers for £5.99 a month in HD and across multiple devices.

BritBox has signed a partnership deal with Channel 4 for British TV boxsets from All 4 and British films from Film4. The multi-year deal will see 1000+ hours from All 4 – with a range of comedy, drama and non-scripted programmes from across the service, including new series – and for the first time to any streamer, an exclusive Film4 curated service featuring iconic British films. BritBox will bring All 4 to the service in Spring 2020, with new series being available 31 days following transmission of the last episode on Channel 4. Film4 will follow later in 2020.

Alex Mahon, CEO at Channel 4 said: “Channel 4 has always showcased distinctive and diverse British content and, in a world of almost unlimited choice, our public service brand values are more important than ever for viewers. The opportunity to collaborate as PSBs on BritBox extends our track record of partnership and will ensure there is a compelling single destination for the very best high quality, home-grown content.”

BT is partnering with BritBox to create a range of products and offers that feature access to BritBox for millions of customers across its brands and services, and as part of the deal EE will be the exclusive mobile partner for BritBox. BT and EE will share more information about the products, services and marketing that will include BritBox in the coming months.

Marc Allera, CEO of BT’s consumer division said; “We’re delighted to be partnering with the world’s best streaming providers to give our customers the UK’s best TV experience - offering unrivalled choice and flexibility. This deal with BritBox will add more exciting content to our great range of TV services for customers whether they’re watching at home or on the go.”

Samsung will be the first TV to launch the BritBox app and together, Samsung and BritBox have agreed a co-marketing partnership that will see BritBox featured as a "Recommended App" on Samsung Smart TV's and joint marketing activity taking place in Q4 as the TV device market heads into its key sales season around Black Friday and Christmas. 

Guy Kinnell, Vice President of TV & AV Samsung Electronics UK Ltd said: “We have an ongoing commitment to provide the greatest experience to our customers, including offering the best range of apps currently available. BritBox provides a new way to access the best of British content exactly whenever they want which consumers can experience on Samsung before any other Smart TV platform.”

Reemah Sakaan, Group Director ITV SVOD commented: “BritBox is all about bringing together the best of British creativity and talent in a new digital world. Today’s launch and announcement of our partnership deals with Channel 4 and BT underline the quality and scale we want the service to embody. It’s wonderful to be bringing such a wealth of brilliant British TV and film to subscribers from today, and I’m looking forward to revealing our exciting, original commissions in the near future.”

The Content

BritBox features the biggest collection of British box-sets available in one place. This includes brand new and recent programmes as well as classic British TV. Full box-sets include all six series and specials of Downton Abbey, all three series of Broadchurch, seven series of Only Fools and Horses, three series of Gavin & Stacey and both series of Extras. BritBox will be the home of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Poirot, and reality fans will be able to enjoy all the past series of Love Island.

BritBox will also feature hand-picked collections and recommendations from the in-house editorial team, alongside those from friends of the service including Sheridan Smith, James Nesbitt, Imelda Staunton, Samson Kayo and more.

BBC exclusives coming to BritBox in the next six months include The Great British Bake Off (1-7), Les Miserables and The Split bringing viewers the very best of recent programmes which can’t be viewed elsewhere. Shows including The Office, Happy Valley and Doctor Foster will also become available on the service. With ITV and BBC's commitment, BritBox will be building a distinctive library of content as existing licence agreements with other players expire.

BritBox can today reveal that all 627 available episodes of classic Doctor Who, originally broadcast between 1963 and 1989, will be available to stream for the first time ever from Boxing Day, including animated recreations of missing episodes using the original soundtrack, and the original pilot from 1963. ‘Spearhead From Space’ featuring the third doctor Jon Pertwee will be made available in HD on the service.

Available today is BritBox’s exclusive drama Lambs Of God, starring Emmy- Award-winning Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Jessica Barden (The End Of The F***ing World) and Essie Davis (The White Princess). Subscribers will get the first chance to see two brand-new never seen before episodes of Midsomer Murders (S20 episodes 5&6) from launch, ahead of their broadcast on ITV, along with every other episode from all 20 series.

Also available from today are recent ITV dramas A Confession and Manhunt coming straight to BritBox exclusively after catch-up window on the ITV Hub, as well as recent ITV and BBC titles including The Trip, Deep Water, Wolf Hall, and Rev.

BritBox is a multi-genre service with programmes from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, and will be bringing a wide range of factual programmes to the service with travelogues and documentaries hosted by Britain’s best-loved presenters including Sir David Attenborough, Professor Brian Cox, Michael Palin, Sue Perkins, and Romesh Ranganathan.

BritBox will also be streaming classic films, including some remastered into HD for the first time. During the first few months following launch subscribers can enjoy Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, Powell & Pressburger's Ill Met By Moonlight and David Lean's Oliver Twist in high definition.

Editor’s Notes

About BritBox

BritBox is a digital video subscription service created by the BBC and ITV. The service brings the very best in past, present and future British programming and award-winning content to viewers all in one place for £5.99 per month in HD. Recent research from YouGov indicates 23% would be interested in subscribing to BritBox at this price1 . BritBox features the biggest collection of British content available on any streaming service, and brand new commissions for British production companies specifically created for BritBox. BritBox also offers expert curation and playlists that will enable viewers to easily find programmes they know and discover new favourites via web, mobile, tablet and connected TVs. 

*Biggest compared to other SVOD services. Verify at https://www.britbox.co.uk/help

1.This figure is from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,010 adults of which 23% would be interested in subscribing to BritBox for £5.99 per month. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23rdto 24thJuly 2019. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 16+).

About Channel 4

Channel 4 is a publicly-owned yet commercially-funded public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit.As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with around 300 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, More4, Film4, 4seven, Channel4.com, streaming service All 4 and The Box Plus Network, including 4Music.

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com/uk/. 

Technical details:

At launch Britbox is available on web (britbox.co.uk) and via dedicated apps for Apple (iOS) and Android phones/tablets as well as Samsung Smart TV and Apple TV (TVOS). Support for Freeview Play and YouView will be added this year with more connected TV platforms & devices to be added in 2020.

BritBox will stream in HD on all platforms and high bitrate Full HD on big screens, with adaptive bitrate to reduce buffering and improve the experience on slower broadband connections. Each account can support up to 5 simultaneous streams and other features include continue watching s o users can pick up where they left off on a different device, autoplay next episode for binging, and personalised watchlists. Additional functionality including offline downloads on mobile devices will be added in 2020.

BritBox will feature unique and expertly curated collections showcasing British talent, including the ability to search and browse by actor and recommended picks on BritBox from many of the biggest names in British TV.

Samsung Tizen Smart TV's from 2016 onwards are supported by BritBox

Freeview Play is supported by manufacturers including Panasonic, Sony, Vestel, LG & more. Availability date for BritBox will vary by manufacturer and model.

The YouView platform is used by BTTV and TalkTalk TV, as well as Sony TVs and Humax PVRs. Availability date for BritBox will vary by ISP, manufacturer and model