Less than two years after it launched as a hopeful rival to the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime, the BBC Store is to be decommissioned after it did not have the desired impact.
A spokesperson for the BBC Store said that demand had not been as strong as the corporation had hoped, and that it did not “make sense” to invest any further resources in it. The store will close for good on November 1st, 2017.
BBC Store was launched as an extension of the BBC iPlayer service, where broadcast shows expire after 30 days, back at the end of 2015. It had been hoped that its ‘buy and keep’ model would be able to rival that of subscription streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.
However, with the BBC’s flagship shows like ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Sherlock’ also available via those same streaming services, and with a typical episode downloadable at an average £1.89 each, the model has struggled and, now, the BBC Store will be wound up in the next five months.
Despite this, a message via the BBC Store’s website said that the corporation will “continue to find new ways of making BBC archive content available. We do hope you enjoyed discovering some wonderful programmes, old and new.”
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More than 7,000 hours of television, some of it rarely seen or long-forgotten, was made available when the Store launched 18 months ago. These included a ‘long lost’ episode of ‘Doctor Who’ called ‘The Power of the Daleks’, which was reconstructed in animated form.
Viewers will continue to be able to watch shows they have downloaded and purchased until November 1st, whereupon they will no longer be available. Customers will be refunded for the shows they purchased, either in cash or Amazon Video vouchers, with those selecting the latter to receive 10% more than the total they’re owed as a gesture of goodwill over the closure.
A BBC representative on Friday (May 26th) would not reveal how many viewers would be affected by the closure, but said the Store had been part of the BBC’s attempts to generate income outside of the licence fee.
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