BBC & Love Productions fail to agree rights deal

Well that's the end of that then.

"Unfortunately we were unable to agree either a fair valuation, and nor were the BBC able to provide the necessary comfort for the future protection of such a distinctive and much-loved television series."

Is the most mindless bit of PR gobbledygook I've heard in quite some time. 'Necessary comfort'? what?

Well that's [LIFTED]!

Never about the money my flabby arse. Of course it was. It's not like the BBC hasn't done a lot to develop the brand - there's all sorts of Bake Off related stuff they've been churning out.
It won't be the same with ads in it. I sincerely hope it blows up Love Productions face.

Ch4 just announced on their Fb page that the show is coming to that channel.

Mark

Also on Twitter : https://twitter.com/channel4/status/775413431071637504

Mark

Well C4, I hope you didn't need that money because you're not going to see most of it back any time soon..

Has anyone done research yet on how effective advertising on the TV is now that everyone records the programmes and fast forwards through the ad breaks?

I would imagine that at some point in the next few years the TV advertising bubble is going to burst when advertisers realise that no-one is watching them any more.

I don't think I've ever seen more than ten minutes of it, so I won't miss it. It does raise questions though - I'd have thought a show like that would be locked down tight, like Top Gear, so the talent could walk but the show and it's format couldn't.

It feels like another BBC failure.

The BBC don't own Bake off, never have. It's always been Love Production's IP. The BBC is required (note : required) to use these kinds of arrangements by it's charter. The BBC pretty much isn't allowed to develop it's own IP any more outside the area of News broadcasting. As a result Love have always been free to sell the show to the highest bidder.

The only way the BBC could have prevented this would be for it to buy Love Productions outright as a company (which Sky pretty much has done) and that would be a) also against the charter and b) decried in the press as the BBC throwing it's weight around and misusing public money when it should be helping the UK TV production industry to grow.

This is not a BBC failure. This is a consequence of government policy re: public vs private sector.

I imagine that something like the Bake Off will be a prime candidate for product placement and/or it's almost certain to be 'sponsored' by someone as well so there will be a little intro before and after every add break as well.
The big kitchen appliance companies like Indesit/Hotpoint and Kenwood will fall all over themselves to bag sponsoring and/or product placement in the GBBO.

I'm really not sure how C4 thinks this is going to work. For a start they'll either have to extend the program over the magic 1 hour run time to keep the existing format unchanged or cut what, at least 10 - 15 minutes from the current run time to fit in the adds.
It'll be interesting to see how 'the talent' reacts as well. Press coverage seems to suggest they weren't involved in negotiations and only found out in the last day or so it would be moving. In particular, if they lose Mel and Sue I expect it'll be a disaster possibly in the same region as Top Gear losing Clarkson et al. I'm sure C4 and/or Love will be able to throw more money than the Beeb but unless they're already tied in with existing contracts they might not feel like taking it.

Product placement only really works if you recognise the brand in the first place. I'm sure there's all sorts of product placement in most of the TV I watch about the only things I spot are Apple hardware and as I'm a fairly committed Apple user of over 25 years now, they hardly need to be selling to me.

AFAICS Channel 4 have paid an awful lot of money for what amounts to just the name and the format.

IMO it's a bad move taking the show away without having tied up the "talent" first. If the reports are to be believed that Channel 4 paid almost 4 times what the BBC had been previously, as a presenter I'd be wanting an equivalent hike in payment to continue appearing in the programme.

Yeah, not having the talent on board before hand does seem like a particularly bad move. Mind you, several of the presenters have previously expressed opinions along the lines of it should stay as a BBC program so it'll be interesting to see if they do jump ship (and for how much although that most likely won't be disclosed).

As for product placement I would agree that it only really works if you recognise the brand. Mind you, things like the mixers they use have a distinctive shape and the ovens they use I think are only made by one manufacturer (I think they must hold a patent on the door sliding under the oven when you open it) so there has already been a certain degree of placement anyway even though the brand names aren't necessarily visible. IIRC they got into a bit of bother a few series ago because they had SMEG (snigger) fridge/freezers and the logo was clearly visible on the front.

I will openly admit that I watch GBBO. Only started watching it last year, and only really because I've started doing more cooking including baking cakes with swmbo. I agree it will need to be trimmed down to fit it around the adverts and that could be detrimental. Product placement may or may not happen but I could easily see the show being sponsored by a company pushing its product(s).

Well, looks like Mel and Sue aren't going to make the jump to C4 - clickety.
Two down, two to go.

Never seen the appeal of it to be honest, it's just Masterchef in a big tent.

Certainly overpriced even at the existing price - I read a figure of £200,000 per episode and the production company were wanting quadruple that which is just astounding for a show that's really quite cheap to produce - hire a marquee, stick a bunch of amateur cooks in there and film the results, it's hardly a groundbreaking format.

I'm glad the BBC stuck to their budgets and I hope when it fails on Channel 4 it's a lesson to the greedy production company execs that everything has a price. And a shelf life.

It does seem to have been pure greed on the part of Love Productions. And monumentally stupid greed given the figure they were after was just the format and didn't have the talent with it. If Mary and Paul pull out as well an Mel and Sue it'll be a walking corpse before it even broadcasts the first episode on C4.