K.J. Yossman ITV has bought out BBC’s share of BritBox U.K. ahead of the launch of its new streaming service ITVX, Variety has confirmed.ITVX will integrate BritBox U.K.
although the latter best-of-British offering will remain a “separate entity” within the app and require a paid subscription.BritBox International, which is available in the U.S., Canada, Australia and South Africa, will remain a 50/50 joint venture between ITV and BBC.
BritBox International will also launch in the Nordics later this year.In a call with journalists, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall confirmed that ITV had bought out the BBC’s 10% stake in BritBox U.K.
for a “nominal” amount.“We initiated [the buy-out] because ITVX is very much an ITV strategic ambition,” she said. “It’s a very important part of our over-all strategy so we initiated that.
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