BBC weather service replaces Met Office with private company MeteoGroup after 94-year spell

The Met Office is to be replaced by private weather company MeteoGroup after 94 years' service as the BBC's weather forecaster.

The announcement from the BBC marks the end of almost a century of partnership between the state-owned Met Office and the broadcaster after the former lost its contract in August 2015.

MeteoGroup, which will take over in the spring of 2017, has offices in 17 countries around the world and is the UK's largest private sector weather business. The BBC has said the company won on the grounds of being the "most economically advantageous".

Nigel Charters, project director for BBC Weather procurement, said he was "extremely pleased" about the announcement.

He said the decision would mean that the corporation could further modernise its weather forecasting by "making the most of new technology and science to bring our audiences an even better service".

"We always want to give viewers and listeners the clearest, most accessible and accurate information which is why we've carried out a thorough, regulated procurement process to test all the organisations that applied on a wide range of areas including data, forecasting, graphics and technology," he said in a blog following the announcement.

Meanwhile, the Met Office has issued a statement saying no one knows UK weather better than it does. The state-owned forecaster, which has a contract to provide weather warnings to the government, has worked with the BBC since 1922.

Helen Chivers, head of news at the Met Office, said: “Nobody knows Britain’s weather better than the Met Office and our expert forecasts and warnings are easily accessible for everyone when it matters.

“Technology is helping us reach more people than ever before in the ways they want, be it on our popular new weather app, website and social media, on-line news providers or independent television networks. This means everyone can have the best weather information at their fingertips, whenever and wherever they need it.

“We are the trusted, expert source of weather and climate science in the UK. Our long standing relationship with the BBC will continue as they broadcast our national severe weather warnings and interview our experts on subjects as diverse as winter storms, global climate change impacts and space weather.”

The Met Office will continue to send its media updates on severe weather warnings to the BBC, but will no longer be on a contract to provide its daily weather forecast.

The BBC announced last year it was no longer considering the Met Office in an open tender process for a new five-year contract to supply radio and TV weather reports to the broadcaster beginning in the autumn of 2016.

The winner in the bidding process, MeteoGroup, was set up in 1986 as Meteo Consult BV in the Netherlands by a leading TV weather presenter, Harry Otten, as one of the first European private weather businesses.

It currently supplies the weather for National Grid, Channel 4 and Sky News. The BBC's regulations state a contract tender must must be awarded to the "Most Economically Advantageous Tender", which is reportedly the best combination of quality and cost.

Richard Sadler, the group chairman, said: "MeteoGroup is honoured to have been chosen to partner with the world's leading broadcaster.

"The BBC is dedicated to offering the best possible weather service to its audience and it has been a demanding selection process."

Its London headquarters was established in 2005 when PA Group, the parent company of the Press Association news agency, acquired a majority share in the business.

It was sold to global growth equity firm General Atlantic in 2014.

Additional reporting by Press Association