BBC sells off BBC Broadcast for £166 million

BBC sells off BBC Broadcast for €166 million

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced that they have sold off its multimedia subsidiary BBC Broadcast in a deal with an Australian consortium. The deal is worth £166 million. BBC uses BBC Broadcast service for channel promotion and branding, subtitling, and play-out. It would now be jointly owned by investment fund Macquarie Capital Alliance (MCAG) and Macquarie Bank.

This deal also include one-year moratorium on compulsory job losses and pledged to protect staff conditions. BBC also had issues with their staff members as Trade union Bectu, which represents the majority of the 1,100 staff at BBC Broadcast, had opposed this deal of sell off earlier this year.

BBC senior representative Peter Phillips who heads the business development at the BBC said in a statement: “This sale represents excellent value for license fee-payers and a secure future for some of the most vital services supporting the BBC’s output.” The sold off unit has exclusive agreement to provide the BBC with playout services for the next 10 years.

Other clients for the BBC Broadcast other than BBC itself are channels like Channel 4, UKTV, and Five. MCAG chief executive Michael Cook said in a statement: “In the UK alone, the number of TV channels and content providers have increased significantly in the past five years and is expected to continue, producing latent demand for playout services”.

The deal is expected to be closed by the end of next month.