BritBox hits 250K subscribers
The on-demand, British TV streaming service BritBox has reached a subscriber milestone of 250,000 customers in just under a year since its launch.
The service – which is available on Apple TV through its app – is owned by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster. The company broadcasts more than 4,600 hours of British programming ranging from same-day releases of EastEnders and Coronation Street, Classic Doctor Who, As Time Goes By, and Are You Being Served, to name a few, all for $6.99 per month after a 7-day free introductory trial in the U.S.
In a statement, the company revealed it has committed to a 50 percent increase in original and acquired programming investment for this year. New programming it plans on releasing this year on BritBox include the drama Maigret starring Rowan Atkinson, the ITV medical drama Trauma, and the BBC comedy Mum.
The service does not include news or sports programming of either the BBC or ITV, the British drama Doc Martin (which is on Acorn TV), or the British equivalent of Top Gear.
BritBox has expanded into Canada on Apple TV upon announcing it now has 250,000 subscribers in the U.S.
The service launched BritBox in Canada for $8.99 a month on February 14th. ITV has said it is looking to roll out the service into other territories over the coming year. The broadcaster said it would “explore opportunities for BritBox on other platforms, include original commissions, and look to roll it out further internationally.”
Since its launch, the service has quietly improved its user interface with additions including a watchlist, next episode auto-play capability, auto-loading of titles as a user scrolls down and expanding categories.