TV fans are in for a big blow as the popular app disappears from screens in WEEKS

Hopes for BritBox’s survival are quickly fading, as the popular TV app appears set to leave Amazon’s Prime Video.

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

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

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

BritBox will end as a standalone service on April 30.

Meanwhile, the BritBox apps available on Amazon’s Fire TV, Roku and Smart TVs will no longer work.

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

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

ITV streamlining

ITV’s CEO, Carolyn McCall, said yesterday that 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.

“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.”

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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.

The move leaves ITVX as the broadcaster’s only destination to catch up on missed shows.

However, 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.

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