BritBox CEO Talks New BBC Ownership

Since February 2024, questions about BritBox have become a regular feature of the Telly Visions inbox. Many of our readers have questions about what's happening to the niche service, technically called "BritBox International," here in the US since the surprise announcement that the BBC was buying out ITV's half of the partnership. But you readers aren't the only ones who have questions; we here at Telly Visions have also been monitoring the changes coming to our favorite service outside of the PBS system. Now, Robert Schildhouse, promoted to President of BritBox North America and General Manager of BritBox International after the sale, is coming forward to answer questions.

A little background for those who have asked us if BritBox is going away in America: No, it is not. However, the confusion is easy to understand, as the streaming service had been split in two by the time the BBC bought out the company in February 2024. 

In 2017, BritBox was launched as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV to encourage Americans to stop VPNing iPlayer and (to a much lesser extent) ITV's streaming service. However, upon launch, British citizens, who are used to having exclusionary services paid for by their taxes and government, wanted to know why there was a British Streamer they didn't have access to. To keep them happy, the two companies launched BritBox UK and began to make original content for both the US and UK markets, since the reruns Americans were getting were already available on ITV and the BBC.

Like all streaming services that entered the original content game, BritBox began to lose money, hand over fist. However, as BritBox expanded to other non-UK countries, the new shows caught on, and the American market stabilized. The UK market did not. 

Meanwhile, ITV's streaming service was going nowhere at home. So, in a desperate move, ITV bought out the BBC from BritBox UK, effectively separating it from the rest of the international versions, and rolled it into its new venture, the now-successful ITVX. That version, the UK-based one, closed down in 2024 as ITV completed merging the two platforms. However, ITV needed an infusion of cash to fund the completion of this merger and offer more new programming. Meanwhile, the BBC, which has tried and failed to launch versions of the BBC on linear and streaming (BBC America, BBC Select), woke up one day and realized it had launched a successful service: BritBox. It just wasn't wholly theirs.

ITV needed money to successfully stream at home, the BBC needed a successful streamer that was wholly theirs in the International space. By ITV selling its stake to the BBC, just this once Rose, every streaming service won.

But what does it mean for the BBC to wholly own BritBox International? The good news is that the company is taking an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to BritBox. The company was doing swimmingly without any interference, and according to Schildhouse, that's how it plans to continue. 

When asked by Deadline about the BBC's plans for BritBox, Schildhouse said the following:

“The beauty of the relationship we have with the BBC is that they still want us to run the business autonomously without any creative pressure on where we source our shows from. While the BBC makes incredible TV shows, we are heavily invested in shows that come from non-BBC sources and that is the proposition we have made to our audiences. We see ourselves as the best route to market for British TV outside of the UK.”

That doesn't mean the relationship with the BBC isn't benefitting BritBox. Viewers may have noticed there's a new strategy that started in May 2024. BritBox takes the BBC's newest critical darling within weeks of airing in the UK and brings it over to the US for weekly Thursday night releases. Thus far, that's included McDonald & Dodds Season 4, Blue Lights Season 2, The Responder Season 2, and, come August 2024, Granite Harbour Season 2. In the fall, BritBox already has a steady lineup ready that includes Trigger Point Season 2 and the new ITV series Passenger.

It's that last show that viewers should note, as it backs Schildhouse's point that just because a critical darling is not a BBC series doesn't mean it won't get top billing. BritBox's success is driven by its ability to work with all the British networks, from Channels 4 and 5 to UKTV and Sky. The BBC is more than happy to let that continue.

This willingness not to treat its new possession as a single production studio streamer that's only allowed to stream its parent company's content (unlike Disney+ or Paramount+, the latter of which collapsed due to that strategy) is critical to BritBox's continuing success under its new ownership. “We are not in the ‘singular hit’ business; we are in the portfolio business,” said Schildhouse.

It's also about being careful when expanding. BritBox is also available in Canada, Australia, and Scandinavia outside of the U.S. market. However, an expansion into South Africa did not immediately see investment returns, and BritBox has since pulled back from it. Schildhouse noted it's not the only streaming service to have done so, as Amazon, arguably one of the most successful services, also walked back its expansion to the South African market. “We had a loyal audience base, but... we [had to] think about being disciplined in our resources and where we invest."

The good news for our readers is there is no need to worry about BritBox going away anytime soon. The company will not be going anywhere in the U.S. anytime soon. Furthermore, unless there is some forward-thinking miracle in 2026 that convinces Parliament that BBC charter should be rethought to make iPlayer an available option outside the U.K., it will remain the best way for us Anglophiles to get our British shows that aren't on your local PBS station.