“Britflix and chill?”
In a move that could see the BBC teaming up with long-time rivals ITV and NBC Universal, a new paid subscription streaming service is being prepared for launch next year that will exlusively host UK-made content, such as Doctor Who and Downton Abbey, for a worldwide audience.
The new site – which, almost inevitably, has been dubbed “Britflix” – would be a rival to Netflix and Amazon Prime, and is one of many recent collaborations between broadcasters and production companies. Experts are already speculating about how this could end the license fee altogether and make all future BBC subscription voluntary.
“Britflix” will most likely use the current iPlayer format. Culture secretary John Whittingdale gave his opinion of the proposal in the government’s white paper on the BBC last week:
“If they want to explore that kind of thing, we’d encourage them. There may come a moment in the future where all television is delivered online, and if you do that it becomes a more realistic practical possibility if you wanted to move towards an element of voluntary subscription.”
The Beeb insists that, whatever happens, the old BBC archive will be available and won’t be hidden behind a paywall, so we’ll still be able to watch Louis Theroux’s old documentaries for free.
This latest proposed venture comes just days after the government announced it was closing a legal loophole that meant people didn’t have to pay for the licence fee if they watched BBC programmes exclusively on online catch-up services.
