Britbox - would UK TV licence holders be paying twice?

[gareth_r]

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2019-04-23/britbox...

Radio Times Article said:

I already pay the BBC a licence fee, why should I pay again?
BritBox will not take any money from the licence fee to pay for its set up or to make its new programmes, and by making older archive shows available it is providing a new service to anything that exists. However, there may be questions ahead about the implications of BritBox and the BBC potentially vying for new show ideas, the same production talent and so on.

The BBC is already pretty tight with its streaming service for UK TV licence holders, compared to Channel 4 as the other "public" broadcaster, and the ITV programmes have been paid for by advertising directed at those same licence payers.

Seems a lot like "paying twice" for previously broadcast programmes to me.

[Mr Pointy]

This is going to play right into the hands of the BBC licence fee bashers. Presumably all the UKTV channels will be pulled of FTA & put onto Britbox.

[gareth_r]

Further research finds that the BBC has "plans which include making programmes available on iPlayer for at least 12 months after they are first released, offering more complete series box sets, and making more content available from our extraordinary archive"
(BBC Annual Plan for 2019/20 >>>> PDF: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/ann... ).

About time too, some might say.

Edited by gareth_r on Tuesday 23 April 20:03

[Zirconia]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-5032...

New streaming service from the UK broadcasters.

BBC, ITV, CH5 and 4.
The app has been up on the Apple TV for some weeks now but I have not signed up but a quick look through the series and quite a lot of stuff I would like to see again, this will be a bing watch I think. Dip in for a month then leave it for a while.

I have the catchup apps for the commercial channels and the incessant ads make them unusable for me, along with targeted programs.

Going to upset a few as well.


Edit. Appreciate the merge from the mods. I did search for this and nothing came up.

Edited by Zirconia on Thursday 7th November 13:22

[DoctorX]

I may subscribe from time to time but unlikely to keep a monthly subscription going. All 600+ classic Doctor Who episodes though for sad arses like me who like to watch them.

[300bhp/ton]

£5.99/month. Thanks but no thanks. If they existed before the other services then maybe, but I'm not going to pay out for yet another service.

[rider73]

Are all BBC/ITV/C4 programs going to be removed from SKY/Netflix then?

Crikey - this , along with Disney+, what the hell is Sky going to show these days?!

[Hub]

Is there really that much demand to watch ancient old Doctor Who episodes? It seems like a bit of a nostalgia fest, which wouldn't be good for long term interest.

So what happens to existing catch up services? Would All-4 pull all their comedy box sets when they move over to the service, or keep them on there with the benefit of being ad-free on the subscription service?

[PF62]

Hub said:

Is there really that much demand to watch ancient old Doctor Who episodes? It seems like a bit of a nostalgia fest, which wouldn't be good for long term interest.

Quite simply, no.

The same will happen as when the BBC tried to sell old episodes of these same TV shows with the 'BBC Store'.

It ran for two years before closing down - AND they had to give everyone their money back - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Store

No matter all the BBC execs involved took huge paychecks funded by your licence fee (not mine, I don't pay for one).

[Zirconia]

Hub said:

Is there really that much demand to watch ancient old Doctor Who episodes? It seems like a bit of a nostalgia fest, which wouldn't be good for long term interest.

So what happens to existing catch up services? Would All-4 pull all their comedy box sets when they move over to the service, or keep them on there with the benefit of being ad-free on the subscription service?

Personally there are quite a few I would catch up on again. I stopped using the commercial channel catchup due to the adverts. Even pausing a show, I can get a raft of new ads. Really is a put off for me. No idea what would happen to them now, not many on the commercial channels I would watch now anyway.

Binge watch. Then drop the sub for a while. The claim new series on the catchup service.

Irony is Netflix started by selling other makers series etc. same as what is happening here. I don't see this as a Netflix competitor. Disney+ will be a must for me when it makes it to the UK, I think that is a bigger threat but Britbox pricing it down it is making it attractive. I dropped my Netflix subs, got fed up with them and the new stuff was marmite.

[PF62]

Zirconia said:

I stopped using the commercial channel catchup due to the adverts. Even pausing a show, I can get a raft of new ads. Really is a put off for me.

You needed Pi-Hole and pft, the adverts vanish - https://pi-hole.net/

[Zirconia]

PF62 said:

You needed Pi-Hole and pft, the adverts vanish - https://pi-hole.net/

Thanks, been on my radar after seeing a few mentions but never got around to it. Just reading about it with regards Apple TV and a a Mac.

However. My router is a bit dated and I understand that with some loaded with the correct software, you can add blocker lists?

On the grand scheme though, I would rather less messing around. Apple has a habit of changing a little thing and breaking many things.

[borcy]

I'm not sure i see the point if they don't go onto britbox until a year after its been on iplayer. Looks like it'll be all the old stuff that's an uktv play now.

[Silverage]

I signed up for the free trial yesterday as I couldn’t see any other way of being able to explore the content.

Very poor. There’s nothing on there I would pay anything to have access to. I cancelled the trial this morning.

[Janluke]

Silverage said:

I signed up for the free trial yesterday as I couldn’t see any other way of being able to explore the content.

Very poor. There’s nothing on there I would pay anything to have access to. I cancelled the trial this morning.

Thanks, I was looking at the site and couldn't see anyway of exploring the content so didn't go any further

I've also read some shows/episodes will not be shown or have been edited as they are deemed inappropriate for modern viewing

[MRichards99]

Hub said:

Is there really that much demand to watch ancient old Doctor Who episodes? It seems like a bit of a nostalgia fest, which wouldn't be good for long term interest.

I'm not sure on the answer on this, but I'd really be interested in the viewing figures for old British TV shows on Netflix - things like The Office, Cold Feet, Broadchurch etc. BBC, ITV must have access to these figures (because they give the licences for them) so perhaps they see something in shows like this?

[Zirconia]

Janluke said:

Silverage said:

I signed up for the free trial yesterday as I couldn’t see any other way of being able to explore the content.

Very poor. There’s nothing on there I would pay anything to have access to. I cancelled the trial this morning.

Thanks, I was looking at the site and couldn't see anyway of exploring the content so didn't go any further

I've also read some shows/episodes will not be shown or have been edited as they are deemed inappropriate for modern viewing

Try signing up online, desk top. But don't go past the card entry or enter card.

Then log into the TV app and see if that works. Wont get to see the episodes but you can browse the library.

[Foliage]

[quote]making older archive shows available
[/quote]

Bit of a strawman, license fee payers already paid for archived programs to be made in the first place... Sooo yeah..

[budgie smuggler]

PF62 said:

You needed Pi-Hole and pft, the adverts vanish - https://pi-hole.net/

All4 detects that now and won't show the programme.

[PF62]

budgie smuggler said:

PF62 said:

You needed Pi-Hole and pft, the adverts vanish - https://pi-hole.net/

All4 detects that now and won't show the programme.

Nope - literally have All4 on the TV on whilst typing this and it is playing fine with no sign of any adverts.