Re: [NEWS] Classic Doctor Who Removed From Britbox UK and ITVX Premium

On 2025-01-09 20:41:16 +0000, Blueshirt said:

The True Doctor wrote:

On 08/01/2025 21:46, Your Name wrote:

 One of many reasons people should be able to own physical
copies of  shows they want to keep, or at least be able to
buy downloadable digital  copies. Streaming services are too
unreliable.
  Classic Doctor Who Removed From Britbox UK and ITVX
Premium   
-----------------------------------------------------------
Classic Doctor Who, which included episodes broadcast
from when the series launched in 1963 until it was rested
in 1989, has been removed by BritBox UK and ITVX (via
Premium subscription).
 An official reason has not been provided by BritBox at
time of writing, though it's thought that the streamer
has lost the rights to keep the show on its platform.
Meanwhile, the Classic Doctor Who episodes are available
to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
 <https://www.gallifreyannewsroom.com/classic-doctor-who-remov
ed-from-  britbox-uk-and-itvx-premium/>

 Obviously the bad feelings from viewers about the new series
which has seen the lost of 4/5 of the audience have now rubbed
off onto the classic series thanks to the behaviour of Ncuti
Gatwa, the perversion of the Timeless Child Monster, and the
desire by the show runners to allow the show to be used to
sexually groom children.

 Hmmm... I'm not sure that is likely to be the case. It's not a
bad guess I suppose but maybe a bit 'out there' for normal
people.
 Possibly, non-fans view the classic era of the show as crusty
and have no interest in seeing various actors running up and
down corridors or falling over at the sound of loud bangs in
quarries? Doctor Who 1963-1989 is an acquired taste. Not
everybody will see the beauty in that era of the show that we
see!
 

Why would Britbox and ITV want to throw their money down the
toilet? You'd think the BBC would want all episodes on as many
platforms as exist. Now for Disney to join them and put an end
to The Adventures of the Timeless Child Monster.

 Maybe - and it is only a random maybe - Disney want all of
Doctor Who from the beginning of time on their own streaming
platform, for international distribution outside of the UK... So
the BBC (for a price) were happy to oblige and not re-licence
'classic era' Doctor Who to Britbox and ITVX?

Basically if you live in the UK, you have to use iPlayer, and if you live anywhere else you have to use Disney+. Then, if in a few years time Disney decided they no longer want to spend the money on the show, the episodes will disappear from Disney+ as well, and may or may not turn up on some other streaming services willing to hand over some cash to the BBC for the privilege.
So far of course the BBC is still releasing DVDs (at least in some countries), so you can actually own episodes to watch for as long as you have a working DVD player. (In some countries it is also legal to make a "backup copy" of a DVD you own, so that would give you your own digital version to play on any digital player device.)