BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial content studio and streaming business, is acquiring ITV’s 50 percent stake in BritBox International for $322 million.
Announced last Friday, the sale will give BBC Studios full ownership of the BritBox streaming platform and values the streamer at $631 million. As part of the agreement, BBC Studios has extended its licensing agreements with ITV to ensure that the latter company’s British content will continue to appear on BritBox.
BBC Studios said that BritBox will become part of the company’s Global Media and Streaming division, complementing its expanding portfolio of digital and direct-to-consumer services that includes BBC.com, BBC Select, the BBC’s premium ad-free doc streaming service in North America and BBC Podcast Premium, an audio service available in more than 160 countries.