According to an article published yesterday in The Telegraph (via MSN), the British broadcasters are looking to band together to fight off rivals such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+. Under the existing plans, which are not final, content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 would all be combined in one space so if you filtered content by Drama, you would see the dramas from each of the services side-by-side. You will also be able to view content by service too.
The report claims that the broadcasters have been in talks since the beginning of the year but that the urgency of the issue has intensified recently as they wish to flesh out a deal before 2023’s smart TVs begin production. If they arrange a deal quick enough, the new streaming platform could get its own button on smart TV remotes.
The introduction of a free, combined streaming service would be very good for people in the UK who currently have to wade through several separate services to find the content they watch. The idea for this service could have come from Britbox, a paid service operated by BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. It offers more content than what’s available on their free platforms but it costs £5.99 per month.
The media regulator, Ofcom, has said that it ‘supports strong collaborative partnerships’ so this news will be welcome. It should also be welcome by the government which announced last week that it wants to ‘protect the creation of uniquely British TV’.