Could The Great British Bake Off once again rise at the BBC?
That’s a possibility after BBC director general Matt Brittin revealed that the UK broadcaster is in talks with Channel 4 to host its content on iPlayer.
Giving evidence to UK Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday, Brittin said that the BBC has had an approach from Channel 4 about a streaming partnership.
The former Google executive said striking a deal would be in Channel 4’s interests because the commercial broadcaster “looks very subscale” in a world in which Sky and ITV are merging.
“All of these mergers are driven by the need to have scale. Channel 4 looks very subscale. One opportunity for them would be, in partnership with the BBC, having content on iPlayer that continues to be ad-funded,” Brittin explained.
“There are an array of commercial, audience, public service, and technical issues, but what we’ll do is explore that as quickly as we are able, because I think that’s something that’s going to be important for public service media.”
Sky’s proposed takeover of ITV earlier this week has sparked a fresh wave of speculation about Channel 4’s future and its ability to cut through in an ecology dominated by bigger players. Channel 4 executives will privately acknowledge that it has to work harder to land a hit show, simply because it does not have the content megaphone of some rivals.
In some of her first remarks as Channel 4 CEO in May, Priya Dogra said she would welcome a closer relationship with the BBC, but bristled at the idea of the two broadcasters combining.
“I was in mergers and acquisitions for a long time. And the thing you learn is that there are no mergers. There are only acquisitions. Someone is always buying someone else and from my seat, that’s the wrong answer for Channel 4, because it would just mean Channel 4 gets subsumed into another organization,” Dogra told the Creative Cities Convention.
“I think the loss of Channel 4’s editorial voice, the impact that we have on content [and] on indies, that would be a loss to society, [and] a real loss for the creative economy.”
The mooted merger has been a source of industry speculation for years. The British government has fanned the flames of this conversation, tasking the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority and regulator Ofcom to review how consolidation could change the industry.
Also speaking at the Creative Cities Convention, Sony Pictures Television president Wayne Garvie made an impassioned plea to the BBC and Channel 4 to form an alliance that would reshape the UK’s television industry.
“There is a world in which they can come together and retain a different, independent Channel 4, with Channel 4, the de facto commercial arm of the BBC, running the [commercial] channels and BBC Studios. That way we can realign our public service broadcasting and protect it for the future,” he said.
The Great British Bake Off launched on the BBC in 2010 before being poached by Channel 4 in 2017. It remains one of Channel 4’s biggest series. Bake Off producer Love Productions will be sold by Sky to ITV Studios as part of the company’s deal to acquire ITV’s network and streaming unit.
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