Streaming service abruptly disappears weeks before ITV shuts down app forever

VIEWERS who were late to the BritBox game – or just want to catch it before it disappears – can no longer subscribe.

BritBox, which launched in 2019 among the UK’s biggest broadcasters, was due to close in early February.

BritBox will end as a standalone service on April 30Credit: Alamy

While there was hope that it would stay alive in some of Amazon’s Prime Video, that dream quickly faded last week.

Now ITV has revealed to The Sun that Amazon has stopped new viewers from subscribing to the soon-to-be retired BritBox.

An ITV spokesperson said: “Amazon Prime has disabled the ‘Subscribe’ button and removed some promotional ad placements on the BritBox Prime Video Channel ahead of the service’s upcoming closure.”

BritBox will end as a standalone service on April 30.

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

Although the date may be different for those who subscribe through Prime Video.

Previously, viewers could subscribe to BritBox through Prime Video, where they could combine their membership fees for both streaming services.

According to ITV, existing subscribers will “continue to have access to the service until closure”.

But customers will receive a message from Amazon “about channel closure and date later this week.”

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Streamlining efforts

Last week, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said the move to ax standalone app BritBox was part of ITV’s 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,” McCall said.

“This will consolidate all our subscribers under one ITVX Premium brand and give us full 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 ITV quietly axed its Catchup channel on Prime Video.

The ITV Catchup channel, formerly known as ITV Hub+, allowed Prime Video viewers to avoid ads at a lower cost.

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

Now it seems all signs point to the ITVX app becoming the broadcaster’s only place to catch up on missed shows.

How can I watch ITVX?

ITVX is currently not available on some older TVs.

A range of Humax Freeview and Freesat boxes, as well as certain models of Samsung Smart TVs, cannot support the new ITVX app.

ITVX also does not work on some older iPhones and iPads.

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

ITV has more information on where you can watch ITVX here.