britbox launches in South Africa

There’s a new streaming service available in South Africa

BritBox has arrived

For the most part I now tend to skip virtual press events because they’ve become a bit overwhelming in the last few months. However, when the invite came in for the launch of BritBox I signed up immediately to attend. Here’s the thing, my mother used to binge watch BBC Lifestyle and ITV when she still had a DSTV subscription. We eventually convinced her to drop the ridiculous amount of money she was spending and rather utilise Netflix and Showmax – which she did. However, every so often she mentions shows she misses, and most of them were sitting on BBC or ITV. BritBox is a partnership between both of these companies. BBC and ITV joined forces to bring BritBox to the US, UK, Canada and Australia and have now made the service available in South Africa.

Here’s what you need to know

britbox launches in South Africa

Basically, the BBC and ITV offer up most of their catalogue on BritBox. So you get a STACK of favourites like Mr Bean, Absolutely Fabulous, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who and like. I can go on and mention ALL the things but, in short, there is a lot of old content that is on the service but a host of new content as well. There is a stack of exclusive shows coming to BritBox that will be available in South Africa on release. You’re looking at hours of content IF I base this off what is currently available on BritBox in the UK and US. There’s an issue around licensing agreements with MultiChoice – I asked during the live virtual event if we’d see certain shows not be made available in the region because of distribution deals with MultiChoice, something that has happened with Netflix in the past. However, I still don’t have an answer to that question. The most I could find was this bit in the FAQ pack sent to media:

How is BritBox different to what was available previously on BBC or ITV services in South Africa?

The great thing about British TV is that there’s so much to choose from – and with BBC & ITV coming together to create BritBox, it’ll be all in one place! BritBox will feature a large collection of favourites from across both broadcaster’s catalogues, so many of the BritBox programmes in South Africa will previously have been available to view on local channels such as BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle or ITV Choice. But we’ll also be bringing you lots of New & Exclusive content to continually refresh our line-up.

Regardless, this is basically my mom’s wet dream so I’m definitely going to sign up for a free 7 day trial for her to see if it feeds the giant gaping BBC ITV hole she had.

Which brings us to cost

britbox launches in South Africa

The service costs R99.99 per month or you can sign up for R999.99 for 12 months (you basically pay for 10). You’ll be able to stream on Android or Apple mobile phones via an app, online and then also via your Samsung or LG Smart TV. There is also a one week free trial so you can take a look at what content is available. Which I’ll likely do for my mom. The service launches on Friday 6 August in South Africa, so I’ll let you know what my mom says after she has had a weekend to binge!

I'd love to chat to you some more.

 

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