TV streaming bonanza looms for UK – but can you afford it?

Services from Apple, Britbox, HBO and Disney launch soon – but to get them all would cost £1,450 a year

Disney+ launches in the US in November, and in the UK a few months later. Expect all Disney stable titles from Star Wars to Marvel to Toy Story and yes, Frozen. Photograph: Allstar/DISNEY/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

Television viewers who want to watch a range of sport and popular shows, including Premier League and Champion’s League football, dramas such as The Crown, Line of Duty and Chernobyl, archive shows such as Gavin and Stacey and new content based on the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, face having to pay more than £120 a month by this time next year.

The global streaming phenomenon, that so far has been all about Netflix, and to a lesser extent its rival Amazon’s Prime Video, is about to get a whole lot more complicated – and expensive – as a new wave of subscription streaming services join the battle to win over TV fans.

Apple launched its service, Apple TV+, on 1 November while Disney is launched its own service less than two weeks later.

ITV and the BBC will introduce Britbox, which will offer a best-of-British experience from Victoria to Love Island, at the end of 2019

2020 will herald the arrival of two more US-based streaming services, HBO Max and NBCUniversal. The new services are a part of a move by film studios and TV programme makers to sell their output direct to consumers, rather than through a service provider such as Netflix.

Each service will have separate content and those wanting to watch will have to sign up to a monthly subscription or annual fee.

The change means viewers will have to pay for multiple services to access the content they want, on top of fees for satellite and cable TV and the TV licence fee that funds the BBC.

HBO Max is part of Warner Media, which owns the film studio behind Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter, the DC Comics superheros including Batman and Superman, and HBO shows including Big Little Lies. In the US, Warner Media has taken back the rights to Friends, dealing a major blow to Netflix. The long-running saga is the most-watched show on Netflix.

Sky-owner Comcast will launch the NBCUniversal streaming service, taking back another big Netflix hit in the US version of The Office. It also owns the Universal film studio behind the Jurassic World and Fast and the Furious franchises.

The monthly bills of these two services in the UK have not yet been set, but they are likely to be £6-£8 a month – although Sky customers will get the NBCUniversal service either for free or at a very low cost.

The details of Apple’s new streaming service were unveiled last October. The mobile phone giant is selling fewer phones and expanding into services that customers will pay for every month rather than rely on big ticket phone purchases every two or three years.

Apple has earmarked $6bn to produce original programming over the next few years to make its service a must-watch. Star attractions will include Jennifer Aniston in her first TV series since Friends, a comedy-drama called The Morning Show with fellow A-listers Reece Witherspoon and Steve Carrell. The service will cost £4.99 a month, but be free for the first year for owners of Apple devices

This is part one of a 2 part blog

David Ogden

 

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden