BBC stamps out £100m bid from Avalon and Hat Trick to save BBC Three
Public service broadcaster the BBC yesterday quashed a £100m rescue bid from two independent TV production groups to take over BBC Three, which is set to become an online-only channel due to funding cuts.
Avalon, the maker of Harry Hill’s TV Burp, and Hat Trick, producer of the BBC satirical show Have I Got News for You fronted by Ian Hislop, sent a letter to the BBC Trust last week offering to take over the channel with plans to increase its programme budget and continue broadcasting it.
The BBC Trust has yet to formally respond to Avalon and Hat Trick’s offer but just hours after the bid was publicised yesterday the BBC posted a statement that the channel is not for sale, pouring water on any chance of saving BBC Three from an online-only future.
“BBC Three is not for sale because it’s not closing. The proposal to move it online is part of a bold move to reinvent the BBC’s offer for young people,” a BBC spokesperson said.
The managing directors of the two production firms, Jon Thoday and Jimmy Mulville, have promised to increase the channel’s existing £80m budget to £100m, while the BBC plans to slash it by more than half to just £30m as part of its move to an online-only channel.
“All original commissions would be made by UK companies and the channel would continue to be aimed at a young and ethnically diverse audience,” the group added.
BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh also took to the BBC blog yesterday to answer questions and further clarify the future of the channel. In the post Kavanagh reiterated: “BBC Three is not closing and BBC Three is not for sale.”
The BBC’s director Tony Hall announced plans for the closure of BBC Three as a broadcast channel last March and for it to operate solely online from Autumn 2015. The BBC Trust yesterday opened up its public consultation on the proposals which are intended to save £50m a year for the broadcaster.