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BritBox - Yet another streaming service

Started by Small Man Big Horse, February 27, 2019, 09:57:23 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Small Man Big Horse

This time from the BBC and ITV, with a massive archive of old shows included but apparently new content is going to be made too. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/britbox

Right now the response on twitter seems to be "What the fuck? I already pay my tv licence but now they want more money out of me? I'm going to stab those cunts in the neck" which bar that last bit seems pretty understandable. I've no interest in it being a dirty tv thief, but does anyone think it's a good idea?

If it grants the public access to rarely seen stuff in there archives then yes, I'm all for it. If its going to be filled wwith recent offerings then it can get to fuck.

ToneLa

I rolled my eyes until I saw Old Shows. If they went loco on providing those it could be a goldmine.

But I'm talking about a proper, open-vaults expedition. That release seems to couch that idea with 'the best of'. It seems to already exist in Yanksville, but I've heard nowt aboot it from Yanks on the Yank forums I use.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Delete Delete Delete on February 27, 2019, 10:04:36 AM
If it grants the public access to rarely seen stuff in there archives then yes, I'm all for it. If its going to be filled wwith recent offerings then it can get to fuck.

Surely the former should be on iPlayer though?

a duncandisorderly

the problem is rights, & specifically UK rights. britbox is already available in the US, with all this stuff on it, but I reckon the catalogue will be different in the UK or else, (as others have pointed out in other threads) this stuff would already be on offer via iplayer & the other services.

so really this is just an effort to make both parties (BBC & ITV) look bigger next to netflix.

biggytitbo


a duncandisorderly

Quote from: biggytitbo on February 27, 2019, 12:20:22 PM
What a stupid name for it.

shitbox. brickbats. birtbox. loads of potential. but yes, clearly they didn't go to an agency.

Talking of stupid names, it's worth mentioning that BBC Worldwide and ITV tried to launch a similar service ten years ago called Kangaroo but the competitions commission rather shortsightedly blocked it because they thought it would give the BBC and ITV too much power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_(video_on_demand)

I'm not sure if anyone necessarily saw Netflix coming in 2008, but it was already clear that there was a big push by the big tech firms to get into TV.

a duncandisorderly

what's fascinating for me, watching from the inside of several broadcasters, is seeing a gradual return to the idea that the content provider has a duty or function to curate, rather than just throw open the doors to the archive & say 'help yourselves, folks!'; having various competing services (netflix, amazon, hulu  & so on) is analogous to having competing broadcasters, & the various attempts by some platforms to aggregate the content onto a single platform seem doomed.

the one I was involved with (six years ago in spain), we were mired in rights issues, multiple DRM systems, exploitation limits... & we were denied access to the components we needed from the studios- almost all of the titles we had on the site were or had been available on shiny discs, or else had done the rounds as digital cinema files, so the various audio (language) tracks & subtitles were all potentially available electronically from a single guaranteed source. we weren't allowed to have these- we were treated instead as though we were a spanish tv broadcaster, & expected to source the bits we needed piecemeal. some of the subs we had to crowd-source.

Glebe

I got an Amazon Fire TV Stick recently, and I use me very kindly Sister's Netflix account... I'm signed up to Prime Video, there's a fairly shit selection in Ireland but it's still worth the €3 a month (although it increases after six months or summit). Annoyingly though, you have to go into the Silk Browser and sign into the Prime Video site to watch anything. Looks fine, though.

VelourSpirit

Does this mean they'll stop putting old series on iPlayer? There's a lot of documentaries on there currently, including Civilisation.

Soup Dogg

Surely the BBC owns so little of the content it currently broadcasts that it will have to make this an exercise in throwing open the archives? That would also give it some sort of USP in a sea of Netflixes and Amazon Primes.

It's the BBC though and they're a bunch of fucking incompetents, so no doubt it will be shite.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on February 27, 2019, 12:45:25 PM
what's fascinating for me, watching from the inside of several broadcasters, is seeing a gradual return to the idea that the content provider has a duty or function to curate, rather than just throw open the doors to the archive & say 'help yourselves, folks!'; having various competing services (netflix, amazon, hulu  & so on) is analogous to having competing broadcasters, & the various attempts by some platforms to aggregate the content onto a single platform seem doomed.

the one I was involved with (six years ago in spain), we were mired in rights issues, multiple DRM systems, exploitation limits... & we were denied access to the components we needed from the studios- almost all of the titles we had on the site were or had been available on shiny discs, or else had done the rounds as digital cinema files, so the various audio (language) tracks & subtitles were all potentially available electronically from a single guaranteed source. we weren't allowed to have these- we were treated instead as though we were a spanish tv broadcaster, & expected to source the bits we needed piecemeal. some of the subs we had to crowd-source.

This is changing now. There's middlemen/aggregators who you can have agreements with who will just deliver you x amount of shows of y genre a month. The ones I've seen aren't great, your typical cheap 'documentary show cobbled together by some talking heads and some archive footage' type stuff, but there's plenty of that on the less prominent tv channels as well. As for DRM, people seem to be calming down about that now plus it's something you can just pay extra for at the cdn rather than having to implement by yourself.

Quote from: a duncandisorderly on February 27, 2019, 10:35:58 AM
the problem is rights, & specifically UK rights. britbox is already available in the US, with all this stuff on it, but I reckon the catalogue will be different in the UK or else, (as others have pointed out in other threads) this stuff would already be on offer via iplayer & the other services.

so really this is just an effort to make both parties (BBC & ITV) look bigger next to netflix.

I just looked up the US version and the selection seems somewhat limited/random to justify the $7/month asking price. I'm guessing the main audience is American fans who want the 26 seasons of classic Dr. Who that they have on it, sort of like that CBS (?) streaming service targeting Star Trek fans.

Malcy

This has launched today I think. First 30 days free then £5.99 p/m. I tried to look for the app on my Firestick but no sign of it. Seems to be browser based for the moment.

Ham Bap

This mean the likes of Only Fools and Horses/Red Dwarf/Gavin and Stacey etc eventually leaving Gold and Netflix?

Like I've seen them all a million times but good comfort TV especially a few OFAH around Christmas time, as is tradition.

steveh

Quote from: Ham Bap on November 07, 2019, 12:24:34 PM
This mean the likes of Only Fools and Horses/Red Dwarf/Gavin and Stacey etc eventually leaving Gold and Netflix?

Where other services like Netflix are willing to pay the BBC enough to make it worth their while they'll continue to license their programmes to them. The BBC now wholly-owns Gold owner UKTV so they will continue there plus the related on-demand services like Sky, Now TV, BT and Virgin. If you have one of those I'm not sure adding Britbox gives you enough to justify the extra fee for it. Wouldn't be surprised if they reduced what's available on the ad-supported UKTV Player though.

One problem longer-term is that since so much of the BBC's output has moved over to independent productions they own fewer and fewer of the shows that they air so what will end up on Britbox and UKTV will become increasingly old with rights to newer shows going elsewhere.

madhair60


MrTalmann

Anyone on there know if there are any good curios not available on DVD? Any Play for Todays or things like that?

SteveDave


Malcy

Quote from: MrTalmann on November 07, 2019, 02:54:47 PM
Anyone on there know if there are any good curios not available on DVD? Any Play for Todays or things like that?

I'll be signing up for the trial today so will report back tonight with what's on it. You can't do anything on the site until you register so can't even see what's on offer.

I think some of the tweets about paying twice are a bit stupid. Did people complain about that when BBC content came out on VHS/DVD etc?

I'm not a huge fan of streaming and the culture. It seems a lot of people get annoyed when something isn't included in a service like the disgust you see online about certain artists not putting stuff on Spotify right away or at all.

Malcy

Quick flick through.

20 BAFTA winning box sets (Happy Valley, Life On Mars, Prime Suspect, Broadchurch, Band Of Gold, Boys From The Black Stuff)

Actor collections which is a load of shows featuring the person. (Sheridan Smith, John Simm, Alison Steadman + more)

Comedy - Carry On collection, One Foot In The Grave, OFAH, Gavin & Stacey, Bottom, Keeping Up Appearances, Young Ones, Inside No 9, Black Adder, Royle Family).

Period Drama, Yorkshire made shows, Actors picks sections.

Lots of films as well. Hitchcock, Michael Caine, WWII, David Lean, Laurence Olivier, Powell & Pressburger collections.

There's loads more in each section. 600+ Classic Doctor Who episodes going up soon as well. The majority of it is BBC at the moment.

It's supposedly going to have lots more to come but I don't know if I'd pay the extra for it. I've either seen or own a lot of it.

Browser based at the moment. Got an email reply about Firestick compatibility and it is coming soon.

Early days for it but I think it could have potential. Especially if it gave ITV catch up with no ads which ITV currently offer for £3.99 extra on their hub.


Rich Uncle Skeleton

Quote from: Malcy on November 07, 2019, 04:11:17 PM
Lots of films as well. Hitchcock, Michael Caine, WWII, David Lean, Laurence Olivier, Powell & Pressburger collections.

Thats enough for me to sign up for at least the trial! I didn't realise how much my usual viewing is made up of old films when I found myself thinking "there's nothing on Netflix"(!)

So this should be a nice change regardless of what other stuff is on there

Malcy

Quote from: Rich Uncle Skeleton on November 07, 2019, 04:29:51 PM
Thats enough for me to sign up for at least the trial!

Yeah worth trying. The more I go through the more I see stuff that I'd like to watch. No CH4 content on it yet. Just BBC, ITV & CH5.

I think a big draw for me is that it's all UK stuff. I tried Netflix and thought it was crammed with shite. Amazon Prime is decent but majority is American with most of the UK stuff being available on All4. Only benefit is the ad free option.

Non Stop Dancer

Can't believe they went with this as their mascot


steveh

Will be leaving out the more problematic shows of the past:

Quote"[BritBox] is a selection [of shows]," said Reemah Sakaan, the senior ITV executive responsible for launching the subscription video-on-demand service. "We also recomply everything that goes on to BritBox [with modern TV viewing standards]. There's also the ability to create bespoke warnings around key programming."

Sakaan confirmed that Till Death Us Do Part, which first aired on BBC One in 1965 featuring the bigoted character Alf Garnett, and ITV's 1970s series Love Thy Neighbour, a sitcom about a West Indian couple who move next door to a white English couple, will not appear on the service.

Beyond these two series there are numerous individual episodes of some beloved shows – including the BBC's Only Fools and Horses, Fawlty Towers and It Ain't Half Hot Mum – which could be deemed inappropriate for modern viewing. However, it is understood that no Fawlty Towers episodes will be cut from the service.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/nov/07/britbox-uk-networks-plan-to-tackle-netflix-amazon-and-apple-tv

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: Malcy on November 07, 2019, 03:08:41 PM
I think some of the tweets about paying twice are a bit stupid. Did people complain about that when BBC content came out on VHS/DVD etc?

These arseholes probably did. And a shout out for Mark Lawson's spectacularly shit analogy he used to try to refute the paying twice complaints - he said that it's like if you buy a hardback book, you don't get a free paperback version.

PlanktonSideburns

So will I have to pay for this and BBC now?!

Sake

Sebastian Cobb

The consensus on reddit is that it'll mean shows on iplayer will end up on there after a year, so you can bin off your tv licence and wait until it appears on britbox for half the price.

At that point I'd just pirate it though.

touchingcloth

So now if I want to WANK to John Humphrys of a morning I need to pay?