BBCWW closes Store

BBC Store allowed users to download shows like Peaky Blinders

BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) is shutting its download-to-own Store service after just 18 months of operation.

BBC Store had been in the works for years prior to finally being launched in November 2015, but the UK pubcaster’s commercial arm said a “rapidly changing market” had forced its hand.

BBC Store will stop accepting purchases today and will be shuttered by November, with customers who have downloaded programming receiving refunds.

The service offers access to around 7,000 hours of programming from the BBC and BBC Studios, including dramas such as Peaky Blinders, Sherlock and Doctor Who.

However, such series are also available to download and keep via streamers such as Netflix and Amazon, a method that has proven more popular with viewers.

The BBC also sells its shows via services such as iTunes, while BBC iPlayer continues to offer on-demand programming to viewers in the UK, with most shows available for 30 days after their broadcast.

“Since the appetite for BBC shows on SVoD and other third-party platforms is growing in the UK and abroad, it doesn’t make sense for us to invest further in BBC Store, where demand has not been as strong as we’d hoped in a rapidly changing market,” said a BBC spokesman.

Last year BBCWW linked with UK broadcaster ITV to launch US SVoD service BritBox, which is being headed up by president Soumya Sriraman. It is focused on bringing the best British content to customers and offers shows such as New Blood, In the Dark and The Moonstone.