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BritBox: the bizarre Netflix rival that will surely bomb

The BBC and ITV’s new service is a bid to keep them afloat before they get ruined by streaming giants. But it’s riddled with risks

The BBC and ITV’s newly announced BritBox – a joint streaming service – is a bizarre example of British broadcasters deciding “to work together in the national interest”, to borrow a phrase currently popular in Westminster.

Facing potentially ruinous competition from US streaming giants, led by Netflix and Amazon Prime, Britain’s oldest broadcasters are trying to claim a Blighty stake in the increasingly global, but largely American-financed, TV market. The venture submerges (if not necessarily suspending) decades of rivalry between the BBC and ITV so intense that both sides keep their schedules secret until the last minute to avoid giving the other any advantage.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2H5YF7T

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