The Bake Off stand-off: BBC faces losing show as deal turns sour

THE BBC faces the prospect of losing

The Great British Bake Off to one of its commercial rivals, after talks to renew the corporation’s contract to air the show stalled.

The seventh series of the popular baking programme, which is due to air on BBC One in the autumn, will mark the conclusion of a three-year deal between the BBC and Love Productions, the company that makes the show.

Industry sources said yesterday that talks between the BBC and Love have reached an impasse, with the corporation yet to agree to the production company’s demand for a vastly increased fee for making further series.

Commercial rivals, including ITV, Channel 4, and Sky, which owns 70 per cent of Love, have let it be known that they would be keen to acquire Bake

Off, should the BBC fail to seal a deal. However, the BBC’s current contract is understood to contain a one-year cooling-off clause, which would prevent a rival from airing the show before 2018. More than 15 million people tuned in to watch Nadiya Hussain win last year’s final, making Bake Off the mostwatched television show of 2015.

The current, three-year deal was signed before the 2014 series, when

Bake Off made the leap from BBC Two to BBC One, where it has steadily grown its audience.

Broadcast magazine, the trade publication that first reported the stand-off, said Love had demanded that the corporation reclassify the show, taking it out of its budget for factual programming, and instead paying for it via its entertainment tariffs. When Bake Off was first aired on BBC Two, in 2010, it was initially commissioned by the BBC’s documentary department.

While the BBC will not reveal how much it pays for the programme, tariffs published on the corporation’s website show that it pays between £40,000 and £200,000 an hour for factual programmes with “high onscreen value”. But it is willing to hand out up to £300,000 an hour for its best performing entertainment shows. In an interview with The Daily Tele

graph earlier this year, Charlotte Moore, the controller of the BBC’s television channels, said she was aware that commercial rivals would be waiting to pounce, should the corporation fail to agree a deal with Love.

She said: “We have a great relationship and we will be doing more Bake Offs. I’m sure [rivals] would love Bake Off. I don’t take anything for granted, but of course I think Bake Off is a big part of BBC One and I think they like to be on BBC One.”

The BBC has put a great deal of effort into developing the Bake Off brand, including launching a professional edition, Bake Off: Crème De La Crème.

The corporation announced yesterday that Hussain will present a twopart cookery programme tracing her roots to Bangladesh. The corporation has also commissioned Love to make

The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Both the BBC and Love Productions refused to comment. The BBC has commissioned a new

Top Gear spin-off series, which will contain behind-the-scenes footage and extra interviews. Extra Gear will air on BBC Three, the online-only youth service, and will be hosted by Rory Reid.