TCA 2018: Can BritBox Be A Major Streaming Player? (And Do They Need Prince Harry & Meghan Markle’s Wedding To Do It?)

BritBox only launched ten months ago, in March 2017, but already streaming service has the swagger to take on TCA. The service is the brainchild of top U.K. broadcasters BBC Worldwide and ITV, and is intended to be Americans’ one-stop shop for the best in British TV. However, it entered the streaming game a wee bit behind the competition. Netflix, Hulu, and particularly Amazon, have spent the last five years grabbing the rights to as many British titles as possible in a sort of “land grab,” while Acorn TV and PBS Passport already have name-recognition amongst hard-core fans of British titles. So where does BritBox’s swagger come from? Does the newbie service have what it takes to be a major streaming player?

I’m going to be ruthlessly honest about something for a second: at first glance, BritBox looks an awful lot like Acorn TV. The two streaming sites both boast that they have the hookup to the highest-quality of British television, but BritBox’s site even looks structured a bit like AcornTV’s. There are collections hung around various genres, lots of old school mystery fare, but with BritBox, there’s a twist. While AcornTV makes much ado about rolling out new episodes of dishy foreign soaps like A Place Called Home, BritBox has a “Now” feature — offering subscribers access to popular shows like Q.I. and Strictly Come Dancing and soaps like Coronation Street within 24 hours of the shows’ U.K. broadcasts. That alone gives them a slight edge, but it may also provide BritBox with the strategic placement to squash its competition.

During TCA, BritBox suggested that they may have a big streaming scoop in store for American Anglophiles. The panel’s moderator, President of Britbox North America, Soumya Sriraman, hinted that the service has something special in store for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s upcoming wedding. There were no concrete details, just a tease to stay tuned. But since the service includes live simulcast coverage of royal events like the Queen’s birthday and Trooping of the Colour, could they — maybe — be finalizing a deal for an exclusive U.S. live stream of the wedding? Something like that would definitely up BritBox’s cache in the streaming wars. It’s the kind of coup that would force even the most casual British TV fan to sign up for a free trial of the service, which could in turn, provide a foundation for a loyal consumer base.

BritBox came to TCA this winter with two shows, a limited series called Trauma, and season two of a critically-acclaimed Lesley Manville comedy, Mum. Trauma is a three-part drama that pits acclaimed actors John Simm and Adrian Lester at odds. Simm is a father grieving the loss of his son, and Lester is the posh doctor who lost Simm’s son on the table. During the panel, one of the show’s producers, Catherine Oldfield, provided us with insight in how a British drama like Trauma makes the jump to BritBox: “Well, we, first and foremost, got commissioned by ITV and we made the show for them. We’re very, very happy to be on BritBox. It’s a really exciting channel that really champions the best of British television and we’re really proud that Trauma is one of the big shows for their first full year. And we have a sales team which is part of ITV in the UK and they talked to everybody, but when BritBox said they were interested, we were just delighted. So we signed up straight away.”

BritBox also announced that they were getting into the Original Programming game. Sriraman announced that the service’s first original series would be a sequel/spin-off to the popular mystery series, The Bletchley Circle. The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco will follow the original series stars Rachel Stirling and Julie Graham as their code-breaking characters cross the pond and join an American team. It’s a savvy first pick for an original series since it plays into an existing series with an existing fanbase. Sriraman also seemed proud to announce that BritBox is the exclusive American streaming site for new seasons of Vera and the new Rowan Atkinson series, Maigret.

But the question remains: Can BritBox be a major streaming player? Based on what we saw, they have a good game-plan in place, but cultivating their “Now” service might be the thing to give them an edge over their competition.

BritBox costs $6.99 per month and is available as an Amazon Channel. For more on BritBox, click here.