NEW YORK — BBC Studios today announced it will launch a new, ad-free subscription streaming channel, BBC Select, in early 2021 in Canada and the U.S.
Available through Amazon Prime Video Channels and the Apple TV app, the British public broadcaster’s BBC Select will offer a range of U.K. programs covering three main topics — culture, politics and ideas. BBC Studios says the streamer will provide an “antidote to the predictable”, offering content for “independent thinkers”.
“BBC Select is for those who crave knowledge, new perspectives, and programs that are not your standard fare,” said Louise la Grange, general manager and launch director. “BBC Select will combine a rich line up of never-before-seen shows in the U.S. and Canada with a prized portfolio of thought-provoking, eye-opening programs that provide context and colour to the world we all share — all in one place.”
It comes just as Corus Entertainment announced it is shuttering TV channel BBC Canada.
Among the British talent and shows to be featured on BBC Select are: Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry and his programs on class, masculinity and identity, including his latest, Grayson Perry: Big American Road Trip; author and documentarian of social issues Stacey Dooley and her series Brainwashing Stacey; historian and professor Sir Simon Schama with his new series The Romantic Revolution; and filmmaker Louis Theroux and a large collection of his work, including Selling Sex, Surviving America’s Most Hated Family, and Talking to Anorexia.
Exclusives to the service include:
- Shock of the Nude (pictured), hosted by professor of classics Mary Beard, gives a personal and provocative take on the nude in western art, from
ancient Greece to the present, and asks why artists and viewers seem so obsessed by nudity. - Reggie Yates in China sees actor, DJ, and presenter Reggie Yates travel to four very different cities in China to discover the new fault-lines in society and how they affect a generation who have grown up with seemingly more freedom than that of any other in the last 70 years.
- In Search of Frida Kahlo follows musician Emeli Sandé — who was inspired by the paintings of Kahlo when writing her album — as she visits Mexico City to tell the story of one of Mexico’s most famous artists.
- Fall of an Icon explores the life of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, who after 15 years of house arrest was celebrated as an icon of democracy. But years on, she is now seen by many as an international pariah.
- Mystery of the Missing Princess tells the story of Princess Latifa, the daughter of Dubai’s ruler, who attempted to escape from torture and imprisonment at the hands of her father.
- Putin – A Russian Spy Story is the portrait of a politician who modelled himself on the Russian James Bond and whose presidency reads like a spy thriller.
- The Last Igloo follows a lone Inuit as he hunts, fishes, and constructs an igloo. It tells the story of skills that are disappearing and of how climate change is affecting the lives of Greenland’s Indigenous people.
- BAFTA-winning documentarian Adam Curtis and his All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace argues that computers have failed to liberate humanity, and instead have “distorted and simplified our view of the world around us.”
“As we shift our business focus to engaging our fans direct, the digital space offers us the opportunity to bring audiences a portfolio of shows that bring new ideas and perspectives into the conversation. Our research has shown that audiences are looking for an alternative to what is already out there. BBC Select is it,” said Rebecca Glashow, president of BBC Studios – Americas.
Pricing information and the full list of launch platforms will be announced closer to launch.
