TV fans suffer major blow as hope fades for popular app that will disappear from screens in WEEKS

HOPE has quickly faded for BritBox’s survival, as the popular TV app looks set to leave Amazon’s Prime Video.

BritBox, launched in 2019 between the UK’s biggest broadcasters, was revealed to be shutting down in early February.

1

But there was hope that it might stay alive in some form via Prime Video, where viewers could combine their subscriptions for both streaming services.

Now ITV has announced that BritBox is set to vanish from Prime Video Channels, CordBusters first reported.

BritBox will cease operating as a standalone service on 30 April.

Meanwhile the BritBox apps available on Amazon’s Fire TV, Roku and Smart TVs will stop working.

From that date onwards, BritBox content will only be available via ITVX or BBC iPlayer.

The BBC bought ITV’s 50 per cent stake in BritBox for £255million just a week ago.

ITV streamlining

ITV’s CEO, Carolyn McCall, said yesterday the move to axe the BritBox standalone app formed part of ITVs plans to streamline its services.

“In 2024, the BritBox UK service on Amazon Prime Video Channels and the BritBox UK standalone app will close as we further simplify our offering.

“This will consolidate all our subscribers under one ITVX Premium brand and will give us complete ownership of the subscriber base.

“The closure of these services is expected to impact subscriber numbers and subscription revenues in 2024.”

It comes just days after the ITV quietly axed its Catchup channel on Prime Video.

The ITV Catchup channel, previously known as ITV Hub+, allowed Prime Video viewers to dodge adverts at a cheaper cost.

For advert-haters, the Prime Video version was cheaper than a full ITVX Premium subscription – and it gave them access to more content.

The move leaves ITVX as the only destination to catch up on missed shows from the broadcasting house.

However, ITVX is not currently available on some older TVs.

A range of Humax Freeview and Freesat boxes, as well as certain models of Samsung Smart TVs, are unable to support the new ITVX app.

ITVX doesn’t work on some older iPhones and iPads, either.

For viewers with older telly boxes, ITV Catchup on Prime Video was the only way to watch ITV without an Amazon Fire Stick or Google Chromecast.

It appears to be another attempt by ITV to streamline its services and channels.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk