Market report: City switches on to ITV amid hopes for Netflix rival BritBox

Investors switched on to broadcaster ITV today after it unveiled details of its new TV subscription service with the BBC.

Called BritBox, the joint venture will allow subscribers to watch original series, programmes from the archives and box sets for £5.99 per month, the same price as the most basic Netflix subscription.

ITV, led by Carolyn McCall, owns 90% of the project and analysts expect it to be a decent revenue driver for the broadcaster over the next three years.

Analysts at Liberum have crunched the numbers, pencilling in £28 million revenue for 2019, £51 million for 2020 and £80 million in 2021.

Brokers also said it was a good test to see if a UK audience will pay for a British-focused TV subscription service.

One said: “ITV needs to move away from its reliance on advertising. Let’s see if it can diversify its revenue stream. Can consumers take on more than one subscription service and can it compete with Netflix?”

The service will be launched before the end of the year and ITV shares were up 1.2p to 110p.

Just Eat was also on the rise as brokers again suggested the takeaway deliveries firm is ripe for takeover given its poor share price performance over the past year. The business trades on a cheap valuation, which many believe could tempt a suitor to snap up a market leader in food deliveries in the 12 of the 13 countries in which it operates. The shares rose 10p to 626p.

The FTSE 100 gained 43.62 points to 7537.71. But there were some fallers, notably media giant WPP after rival Publicis cut its full-year revenue forecasts.

WPP and Publicis are being squeezed by competition from Facebook and Google as well as tightening ad budgets by major clients. WPP has been undergoing a revamp under chief executive Mark Read and its shares fell 3%, or 30.8p, to 907p.

On the FTSE 250, Aston Martin was the biggest riser after its top investor confirmed its offer to buy another 3% stake in the luxury carmaker, whose shares have slumped since listing last October.

Strategic European Investment Group, part of the Italian private equity group Investindustrial, already owns 31% of Aston Martin and has offered to pay 1000p a share for the extra stake.

Aston Martin rose 28.6p to 991p, giving it a much-needed lift as the shares have lost more than a fifth in value this year.