ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall says it is ‘impossible’ for BritBox to rival Netflix as they have deep pockets and no need for profits
- The UK streaming service launched last month as joint BBC and ITV project
- Dame Carolyn told media conference in London it’s ‘not trying rival Netflix’
- She said it is impossible to rival both the number of subscribers Netflix has
- But the chief maintained that BritBox is meant to ‘complement’ the giant
Dame Carolyn (pictured) has admitted that it would be impossible for BritBox to rival Netflix
The chief executive of ITV, Dame Carolyn, has said it will be ‘impossible’ for BritBox to rival Netflix.
She said BritBox would be unable to compete with the global streaming giant’s vast membership and ‘very deep pockets’.
The UK streaming service, a joint project by ITV and the BBC, launched in early November.
Both public service broadcasters hope BritBox will counter the dominance of US streaming giants including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Speaking at Voice Of The Listener And Viewer’s (VLV) autumn conference in London, Dame Carolyn was asked whether BritBox could rival Netflix.
She said: ‘It won’t. We are not trying to rival Netflix. How on Earth can we rival Netflix?
‘I mean, honestly, they are a global company on one-hundred-and-something million subscribers already.
‘They have very deep pockets and their shareholders are absolutely betting on their future, not on their portfolio. They are not having to make any money.’
‘One, it is impossible to rival that. Secondly, in the UK we are totally complementary to Netflix,’ she said. ‘There will be nothing really that is on Netflix that will be on BritBox and vice versa.
‘Any BBC and ITV content that is on Netflix currently is coming back. It’s coming home to BritBox when it runs out of its contract.’
The service launched last month as a joint project between ITV and the BBC but Dame Carolyn said it won’t be able to compete with Netflix
She added: ‘They are genuinely services that can coexist and they are very different things that can coexist.’
Dame Carolyn also said it was ‘unlikely’ ITV Studios would ever make a series starring Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly for another channel, like the BBC.
She said: ‘Not likely, Ant and Dec. I think they are too associated with ITV probably.
‘They are free. They are not free at the moment but they are independent people. I think that is unlikely.’
Dame Carolyn was in conversation with former media journalist Torin Douglas.
The theme of the one-day conference was Public Service Broadcasting: The Threats, Challenges And Opportunities Ahead.