BritBox South Africa is set to officially launch in South Africa on Friday, 6 August. You can visit the local website right now and sign up.

I found the app on the South Africa App Store, downloaded it and signed up for the 7 day free trial via iOS. I can go into settings and cancel it at any time. This specifically is in relation to me accessing it on my iPhone. I imagine you’d have to put your credit card info on the website to sign up there and cancel on that interface.

Quality

I have not found a way to control the quality of the stream on my mobile device or Apple TV, which could be a problem if you have a capped data service. According to BritBox, this is the bandwidth you’d need according to device:

  • iOS, Android: 1.5Mbps
  • TVs (smart TV, Roku, Apple TV): 3Mbps
  • Web (laptop or browser): 3Mbps

The website also adds: “This rate may vary depending on your overall internet usage (such as other devices in your household) and the video quality. Streaming in HD (high definition) typically requires 6.5 Mbps.”

Multiple devices

The BritBox website says you can watch on multiple devices, and from what I read on third party websites, it said five devices. I tested it myself on two laptops, two smartphones and an Apple TV, so can confirm the five concurrent streams worked without kicking me out.

I did see this restriction on the site: There is one restriction to note. If you subscribe to BritBox through an add-on subscription to Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV Channels, unfortunately you’ll only be able to watch in their platforms.

Example: If you originally signed up through Amazon Prime Video, your subscription can only be modified or accessed through Amazon Prime Video.

The five streams I test worked across devices despite signing up via iPhone.

Offline Play

I’ve not been able to access offline play just yet. I’m not sure if it will be made available tomorrow or in future.

Gift Subscriptions

You can also gift someone a subscription directly from the website but it works for an annual subscription for 12 months, which costs R999.99. At the media launch event last week, it was stated that if you buy a 12 month subscription, you can two months free: https://www.britbox.com/za/gift-subscription

Content

The most obvious thing about BritBox is that it uniquely serves you British content. If you’re a fan of British humour, this is likely going to be up right up your alley. Because of this differentiator, I don’t think you can compare it to Netflix or Showmax. You can scroll here to see what’s on offer: https://www.britbox.com/za/programmes