Almost two years after its official launch, BritBox UK – the streaming service owned by ITV and the BBC – is finally coming to the Roku streaming devices.
BritBox UK (There’s also a US version which is different) is a streaming subscription service that curates British TV programmes from ITV, BBC, Channel 5 and Channel 4, as well as classic British films.
The service offers its subscribers the biggest collection of British box sets, starring, including the likes of Broadchurch, Downton Abbey, Vera, Only Fools and Horses, Love Island and Original exclusive content including The Beast Must Die, Secrets of the Krays and Spitting Image.
BritBox also features a collection of 600+ episodes of Classic Doctor Who.
The subscription normally costs £5.99/month or £59.99/year, and you can usually get a free trial (See my review of BritBox UK here).
After its initial launch back in November 2019, BritBox had some issues with availability, as it was only available on a limited number of streaming devices.
An Amazon Fire TV app was released four months later, and earlier this year BritBox also became available as a Prime Video channel, making it accessible on more than 40 million devices in the UK.
However, a native app was still missing from some prominent devices – such as Freeview Play boxes, and the Roku streamers.
Late last year, a BritBox app was added to the Manhattan T3-R Freeview recorder – but an app for all Freeview Play devices is still nowhere to be seen.
Today, Roku and BritBox announced that the app is now available on all Roku streaming devices sold in the UK, as well as Roku TVs.
Roku sells a number of popular streaming devices in the UK, from the low-cost Roku Express to the Roku Streambar, which is a soundbar with a streaming component built-in:
- Roku Streaming Stick+ (see our review)
- Roku Premiere (see our review)
- Roku Express (see our review)
- The new Roku Express 4K (see our review)
- Roku Streambar (see our review)
Roku users can already find the app in their Roku Channel Store, and can add it to their device either via the website, or directly on their device.
Users who don’t have a BritBox subscription yet, will be able to subscribe directly from the app, via the Roku Pay feature.
Tom Price, BritBox UK’s Commercial Director said: “We are thrilled to bring the best of British entertainment to Roku, which has been one of the most demanded platforms in customer feedback.
“Our mission is to make it easy to enjoy BritBox across any device and we now cover all the major streaming devices and smart TV platforms.”
The Amazon Fire TV BritBox app had a myriad of issues in my testing this year – disappearing watch lists, forgetting what you last watched, and more.
I’m hopeful the Roku app will fare better – and will test it in the coming days.