A company sign is displayed outside an ITV studio in London, Britain July 27, 2016. REUTERS/Neil Hall
BARCELONA (Reuters) – UK broadcaster ITV said on Wednesday it was teaming up with the BBC to create a British rival to Netflix called “BritBox”.
Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said the partnership, which is close to being concluded, would bring an exciting new subscription video-on-demand service to UK audiences.
“This will provide an unrivalled collection of British boxsets and original series in one place,” she said.
“We anticipate that other partners will be added to BritBox and we will both speak to regulators and the wider industry about our proposals.”
ITV, the broadcaster of soap opera “Coronation Street” and reality show “Love Island”, announced the tie-up along with 2018 results that saw adjusted earnings fall 4 percent in 810 million pounds ($1.07 billion).
It said it was performing strongly on screen but economic and political uncertainty in Britain would cause advertising revenue for the first four months of 2019 to fall by 3-4 percent.
Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Elisabeth O’Leary and Jason Neely