Tory cuts contributed to BBC losing Great British Bake Off to Channel 4, claims Labour minister

Conservative Government pressure on the BBC helped ensure the corporation lost The Great British Bake Off, MPs have been told.

Chi Onwurah, Labour’s shadow Culture Minister, linked the loss of the show to Government funding “cuts” and warned that the British public could lose more of their “favourite shows” unless ministers changed their policies.

Anxiety about the BBC losing Bake Off reached Parliament as it emerged the corporation had offered £15 million a year to programme makers Love Productions, but Channel 4 had agreed to pay what is thought to have been a total of about £75 million in three annual £25 million instalments to secure the rights.

In the Commons, Ms Onwurah linked the loss of Bake Off to a surprise deal made last year in which the BBC agreed to shoulder the cost of providing free TV licences for the over-75s, in return for the Government allowing the licence fee to cover catch-up TV and rise in line with inflation.

The deal, hailed as financially advantageous by senior BBC management, but described as “deeply shocking” by ex-director general Lord Birt, was announced in July 2015, a day after then Tory Chancellor, George Osborne, said the broadcaster needed “to make savings as we get our house in order”.

Ms Onwurah told the Commons that it had been estimated that the deal, due to be phased in from 2018 “will cost the BBC £1.3 billion over five years then £750 million each year - that represents a 20 per cent cut in licence fee income”.

“It could”, she said, “pay seven times over for our 30 local BBC radio stations or fund Radio 4 eight times. It could pay for 30 British Bake Offs. And ministers would do well to consider that before depriving the British public of their favourite shows.”

She added it was clear that the BBC lost Bake Off after six years and seven series because “of funding”.

As news emerged of its loss on Monday, the BBC issued a statement explaining that the corporation’s finances were limited.

A spokesman said: “We made a very strong offer to keep the show but we are a considerable distance apart on the money. The BBC's resources are not infinite.”

The year-long negotiations with Love also took place against the background of the impending renewal of the BBC’s Charter and warnings from ex-Culture Secretary John Whittingdale against overspending, imitating commercial channels and chasing ratings.

Industry insiders, however, have told The Independent that they believed the BBC had not been seeking to win political favour by refusing to pay over the normal odds for the hit show, which has attracted up to 15 million viewers for some episodes.

On this occasion, they said, it is likely the BBC took the view it did not need to worry about political criticism of its spending because Bake Off was so clearly within its public service remit and was “quintessentially BBC”.

It was, insiders said, more a case that the BBC did not have the resources to compete with Channel 4.

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Responding to Ms Onwurah’s criticisms of Government funding, Culture Minister Matt Hancock told the Commons: “On the crucial issue of The Great British Bake Off, which I am an enormous fan of, I just hope she will correct what she just said and acknowledge that the Bake Off, after today's announcement, will remain on free to air terrestrial TV on Channel 4.”

A spokesman for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport told The Independent that how much the BBC paid or offered to pay was “a matter for the BBC, Channel 4 and the production company”.

Industry insiders told The Independent that the £15 million a year offered by the BBC was a “huge” sum by its standards, and equivalent to what it would normally pay to commission several TV dramas.

The offer is also understood to have been twice what the BBC had been paying Love Productions under the previous three-year contract. Channel 4, however, was thought to be able to offer Love Productions four times what it had been getting under its existing contract with the BBC.

In comments that may alarm viewers who loved the homely, non-commercial feel of the BBC show, Maisie McCabe, acting UK editor of the media and advertising magazine Campaign, said Channel 4 would be able to recoup some of its huge outlay via advertising revenue.

She said companies might be willing to pay £6 million a year to sponsor such a popular programme and, for an hour-long episode, Channel 4 might be able to sell up to 24 thirty-second adverts at £70,000 to £100,000 per ad – adding up to an advertising revenue of as much as £2.4 million per show.

“The buyers who book for content for advertising that I have spoken to,” said Ms McCabe, “are all really excited. For advertisers, being able to promote their brand alongside such a successful product would be a really exciting opportunity.”

She added, however, that widespread fears that Bake Off will be overwhelmed by product placement might be unfounded.

“It would be another revenue stream, but it would be unlikely they would flood the set with product placement. It’s not in Channel 4’s interests to make things too gratuitous. It’s been consistently proven that turns viewers off.”

Love Productions insisted its show's switch to Channel 4 was not simply about money, with its bosses telling staff via an internal email: “We always wanted to stay on the BBC... this has never been about who might write the biggest cheque, but about where we can find the best home for Bake Off.”

Industry insiders told The Independent that the production company was aware of the huge public affection for Bake Off, and had therefore rejected offers of even more money from other broadcasters to go with Channel 4, a free-to-air channel with a public service ethos.