A British Netflix is coming and everyone hates it

27 February 2019, 12:27

Netflix on a TV screen/A man crying. — A British Netflix is coming... Picture: Getty/Pinterest

By Jazmin Duribe

Move aside, Netflix.

The BBC and ITV have confirmed plans to join forces and launch a new streaming service – BritBox. BritBox, which is expected to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime, is already a thing in the US and Canada after being rolled out in 2017 and has over 500,000 subscribers.

BritBox will bring some "old favourites" as well as new and original content to one platform. It's promised to put the spotlight on British shows too, and will have the biggest collection of UK content on any streaming service. Yep, that means we will be watching Love Island from the first series… again.

"BritBox will be the home for the best of British creativity – celebrating the best of the past, the best of today and investing in new British originated content in the future," TV chief executive Carolyn McCall said.

via GIPHY

Meanwhile, BBC director general Tony Hall, said: "I am delighted that the BBC and ITV are working together on something truly special – BritBox. A new streaming service delivering the best home-grown content to the public who love it best."

ITV and the BBC are in the concluding phase of talks right now and it's expected other channels will join later, which means there will be a wide range of British box-sets to browse all in one place.

All British shows in one place sounds like the dream right? Erm, no, actually everyone was a little negative about it.

What? You want me to pay an additional fee for an online streaming service for the stuff I already paid my TV licence for despite not really watching much in the way of Beeb programs cause documentaries aside they’re not even vaguely interesting to me. #Britbox pic.twitter.com/jQ28uJgqIz
— Ciarán (@cpjw1602) February 27, 2019

Am I getting this right? I have to pay a license fee because of the #BBC and soon, if I want back catalogues, I'll have to pay again via #BritBox? 🤔 Think I'll stick with @NetflixUK and #AmazonPrime
— Ashley Lynn (@ashash_baby) February 27, 2019

BBC and ITV to package up some old crap and call it Britbox and expect us to pay for crap with were forced to pay for before through out TV licence.

Why is BBC always a decade behind. The best thing it did was BBC 3 and now that's been ruined https://t.co/5FvUQBrgTv
— Will Black (@WillBlackWriter) February 27, 2019

When @ITV and @BBC think people are gonna pay monthly for a netflix like streaming service for just their content #britbox 😂👌 pic.twitter.com/NwYkWCdNX2
— Adam (@JokingRS) February 27, 2019

i don’t understand why #BritBox is being launched in the uk. we pay to watch the programmes through our licences on live tv and get them for free on iplayer and hub?
— Dean (@Dean_M_Simons) February 27, 2019

The name "BritBox" didn't exactly go down well either...

I’m not entirely sure the marketing department have thought through all the rhyming implications #BritBox pic.twitter.com/Aas1xH3LWy
— Rod Kelly (@rodkelly50) February 27, 2019

Britbox sounds like a film about Sandra Bullock blindfolding herself to avoid watching Traffic Cops
— Stuart Heritage (@stuheritage) February 27, 2019

#BritBox would make a great name for that small, isolated, enclosed thing currently drifting off the coast of Europe.
— Hicham Yezza (@HichamYezza) February 27, 2019

Clever tie-in at the BBC this week, letting returning star Alan Partridge choose a name for the new online Netflix rival.

“Britbox” it is, then.

Aha.
— C J Thorpe-Tracey (@christt) February 27, 2019