The brand new UK online streaming service Britbox has banned a whole array of classic TV shows, claiming that they may be deemed inappropriate for modern audiences.
Britbox is collaboration between British terrestrial networks the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5.
The Telegraph cited Reemah Sakaan, the ITV executive responsible for launching the subscription service, as saying that “changing tastes” had been taken into account when Britbox banned such television series as “Till Death Do Us Part” and “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum”.
“We re-comply everything that goes on to BritBox, and the great thing about on-demand is that you’re not forcing anyone to watch anything," Sakaan pointed out.
Apart from “Till Death Do Us Part” which ran on the BBC from 1965 to 1975 and the “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum” sequel to Dad’s Army which ran from 1974 to 1981, a raft of other programmes will be unavailable on BritBox, including the 1970s Thames Television programme Love Thy Neighbour.
Breitbart meanwhile reported that reruns of “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum" had already been taken off British airwaves after claims that the sequel was racist and homophobic.
BritBox is touted as “the biggest collection of British content available on any streaming service.”
It was launched on 7 November with a 30-day free trial followed by a subscription fee of £5.99 ($7.65) per month, something that is on a par with Netflix fees.
Even so, Britbox is unlikely to become a serious rival to Netflix or Amazon Prime, The Times cited unnamed sources as saying.