BBC Select, a new streamer for factual programming in the U.S. and Canada, is the latest video subscription service to arrive through Apple TV Channels.
BBC Select offers curated non-fiction and factual programming, spotlighting culture, politics, and ideas through a candid, unbiased, and sometimes playful lens.
Shows available on the new channel include the acclaimed documentary series "The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty," Aung San Suu Kyi documentary "The Fall of an Icon," and the films of Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry and documentary presenter Louis Theroux.
BBC Select joins the BBC's portfolio of existing streaming services that includes BBC Earth, BBC Brit, BBC First, and BritBox. The new service is effectively analogous to an international wing of the terrestrial TV channel BBC Four in the UK, which focuses on the arts, documentaries, and current affairs.
Apple introduced the Channels feature in early 2019, providing a way for Apple TV users to subscribe to standalone services directly in the TV app. There is a growing selection of Channels available, including CBS All Access, Showtime, Epix, Starz, Cinemax, AMC+, and more.
BBC Select is available now in the U.S. and Canada via the Apple TV app and Amazon Prime Video for $4.99 per month.
Top Rated Comments
Every penny from international sales will come back to the BBC and be used for producing new content.
If these sales didn’t happen, then the original cost of production would have still been incurred, it just would have all been covered by the license fee.
I get you don’t like the license fee, but not selling stuff abroad because of it is an odd way of running the BBC.
This is of course if you have some sense of cultural and strategic meaning, some British values and take on things deserve to be heard, enjoy or have fun with. Some people of course -and in their own right- might prefer to keep isolating themselves and become European Singapur. "Not with my money", etc.
I personally applaud its overseas availability and look with envy the greatest public TV Network in the world and its imperfect but meaningful model and how it gives back to its payers dare I to say a lot more than they give initially.
Remember that the money is spent on British job: directors, actors, designers, etc. This is money that goes right back to keep creators and content-producing Britons working. Better than spent in weapons, and more effective.
They also admit mistakes after investigations.
Personally I think the BBC represents excellent value for money. Think how much of your life you spend watch commercials on ITV/Channel 4 etc. They are also helping push the technology forward (they were behind the HLG HDR standard). Yes, they do annoying things (like abandoning TuneIn on Echo devices and all the issues that has caused) but then so do most companies.
The non-fiction programming which this story covers are almost worth the cost themselves! Think Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Charlie Brooker (before he jumped ship), Adam Curtis and the list goes on.