UK Video Streaming Service BritBox Goes Live
UK Video Streaming Service BritBox Goes Live
By Mike Wheatley - 12 November 2019

U.K. TV video streaming service BritBox officially launched its services this week, announcing that it will soon be adding Channel 4 content into its mix. 

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BritBox is a collaboration between the BBC and ITV, but it’s also agreed a three-year partnership with Channel 4 to bring thousands of hours of content from its All 4 and Film4 services to viewers. 

BritBox start showing All 4 content in spring 2020, while Film4 content will follow later in the year. TV shows from All 4 will be made available on BritBox exactly 31 days after the last episode is screened on Channel 4. 

“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,” said Channel 4’s chief executive officer Alex Mahon. “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.”

BritBox is also partnering with BT and EE, with the latter firm being announced as its “exclusive mobile partner”. Further details of those partnerships are still to be announced, but it’s likely that both services will end up bundling BritBox in some kind of subscription offering. 

The big selling point of BritBox is its box sets, with entire seasons of classic BBC and ITV shows being made available to stream for the first time. For example, the service will stream all 627 episodes of the original Doctor Who series, which ran from 1963 to 1989. Other notable series available at launch include Miss Marple, Poirot, Downtown Abbey, Broadchurch and the first seven seasons of Only Fools and Horses. 

British telly fans can sign up for BritBox today. They’ll be able to enjoy a 30-day free trial upon registration, with subscriptions costing £5.99 per month. For that, viewers will gain access to HD programming and the largest collection of British box sets available on any video streaming service. 

Subscribers will be able to access BritBox through a dedicated application on both Android and iOS devices, as well as Apple TV. The service is already available on Samsung’s Smart TVs now, and will debut on Freeview Play and YouView early next year.