BBC RULES OUT SALE OF WORLDWIDE

THE BBC have ruled out the sale of BBC Worldwide in a review of the commercial subsidiary’s activities but supports the development of ambitious growth plans for the existing operation.
While ruling out a sale, the review concludes that some individual parts of Worldwide’s business could benefit from new partnerships or outside shareholders.
This would help build scale and increase revenues to meet the Government’s challenge to the BBC in the licence fee settlement to generate £1.1bn in savings, efficiencies and commercial income over the next five years.
The review also recommends that alternative ways of providing greater access to the capital markets are explored for Worldwide and the BBC’s other commercial businesses.
As a result of the review, Worldwide have also been set a new target of £20 million in cost savings so that more money can be directed in to frontline programme making.
BBC Director-General, Greg Dyke, said: "We have examined a lot of complex issues in this review of BBC Worldwide. Because of the BBC’s unique means of public funding and the responsibilities that brings, commercial activities are undertaken as a way to drive as much value from our assets as possible to enable us to reinvest more money back in to programmes and services.
"BBC Worldwide is responsible for a whole range of content rights issues. Selling Worldwide could mean the BBC losing control of its prime assets – its brands and its programmes - to a third party which would not be in the interests of licence payers. Global producers like Disney or Fox would never contemplate selling all rights to characters and films to someone else, why would the BBC?
"However, in some business areas we may consider partnerships or bringing in outside shareholders which could help growth and development."
In the BBC’s latest Annual Report, published on 4 July, BBC Worldwide reported record sales of £587 million and a record cashflow back to the BBC of £96 million. (CD)