the times | Saturday January 1 2022 9
News
The BBC licence fee settlement is to be
signed off this month by Nadine Dor-
ries as the corporation prepares for a
real-terms reduction in its funding.
The culture secretary will hold final
talks with BBC bosses to determine the
level of the licence fee over the next five
years, with a deal expected to be con-
cluded by the end of the month.
Sources anticipate that the £159 tele-
vision licence will be held below infla-
tion, but could rise again towards the
end of the BBC’s royal charter in 2027. It
adds up to a real-terms cut in funding at
a time when BBC finances are under
unprecedented pressure.
The Times reported on the mixed ap-
proach to the licence fee settlement in
August after ministers rejected calls
A BBC executive who played a role in
rehiring Martin Bashir is the last
remaining internal candidate to be-
come the corporation’s head of news.
Jonathan Munro, the deputy director
of news, remains in contention to re-
place Fran Unsworth, who steps down
this month after four years in the top
job and more than 40 years working for
the BBC.
Final interviews have taken place
and Tim Davie, the director-general, is
preparing to make a decision in the next
fortnight. Sources suspect that at least
Boss who helped rehire Bashir among last few for head of news
Munro carried out background checks
on Bashir, during which he was made
aware that the reporter had forged
documents in order to secure the inter-
view. He escalated his findings to James
Harding, then head of news, who ulti-
mately took responsibility for Bashir
rejoining the BBC as religious affairs
correspondent. Bashir left the corpora-
tion last year.
Jamie Angus, controller of news out-
put and commissioning, is no longer in
contention to succeed Unsworth, 64,
after being considered an early front-
runner. Nick Robinson, the Radio 4
Toda y presenter, is also not in the racedespite reports that he was sounded out
about the position.
Several external candidates have
also indicated that they are not in the
running. They include Kevin Bakhurst,
Ofcom’s group director of content and
media policy, and Deborah Turness,
chief executive of ITN. Davie was said
to be particularly keen on Turness and
there has been some speculation that
he made further efforts to convince her
to join the BBC after she initially turned
down the opportunity.
Jon Williams, a former BBC execu-
tive who now runs the news operation
at RTE, the Irish broadcaster, held talksover succeeding Unsworth. Cristina
Nicolotti Squires, director of content at
Sky News, was also linked to the BBC
role.
Davie has so far been successful in
keeping the identity of the mystery out-
sider concealed. The other theory is
that one of the known external candi-
dates remains in contention despite
them protesting otherwise.
The new director of news will have
big decisions to make about BBC News’s
presenting line-up following Andrew
Marr’s departure and Laura
Kuenssberg’s decision to step down as
political editor.Jake Kanter one external candidate is also under
consideration.
A former ITN journalist, Munro is
responsible for the BBC’s vast news-
gathering operations and live output.
He is admired by colleagues for this
breadth of experience and ability to
“talk human”, but critics have pointed
to his involvement in rehiring Bashir in
2016 after the reporter’s controversial
Panorama interview with Diana, Prin-
cess of Wales.
Ken MacQuarrie, the BBC’s former
director of nations and regions, re-
viewed the recruitment decision and
cleared those involved of wrongdoing.
BBC faces cuts under licence fee deal
cuts after missing its £87 million savings
target by £12 million. Insiders think
cracks are starting to appear on screen,
with some saying that cuts were to
blame for the BBC’s controversial inter-
view with Alan Dershowitz, Jeffrey Ep-
stein’s former lawyer, minutes after
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of
sex trafficking.
John Nicolson, an SNP MP who sits
on the Commons culture select com-
mittee, said the government must
shoulder some responsibility for the
BBC slashing spending as a result of the
licence fee deal in 2015. “Conservatives
tried to blame the BBC for the subse-
quent cuts, which is very dishonest
because they knew at the time the deal
was imposed what it would result in.”
Britain’s great TV and film boom has left
the BBC behind, Emma Duncan, page 30with industry hyperinflation: the boom
in demand for British programming has
meant that rivals, including Netflix and
Amazon, have pushed up the cost of
making big-budget dramas, such as A
Very British Scandal, by as much as
10 per cent.
The National Audit Office, the public
sector spending watchdog, laid bare the
financial challenges in a report last
month. It said that the BBC had put off
its hardest cuts, prioritising behind-
the-scenes savings, such as reducing
staff, over changes that affect audien-
ces. The result is that the BBC will have
to make tougher decisions on cutting
programming and redirecting resour-
ces into higher-impact shows.
For viewers, this could mean more
repeats and less original programming.
BBC News will also have to make biggerplans to improve regional and class di-
versity among its workforce.
The settlement will need to be an-
nounced swiftly in the new year so it
can be laid before parliament and in-
corporated into the BBC’s budget from
April 1. The broadcaster has been un-
able to complete financial modelling
because of the delay, although it is clear
that any reduction in income will add to
an already huge savings pile.
The corporation anticipates that it
will need to cut costs by at least £1 bil-
lion over the next five years. With the
Bank of England predicting that infla-
tion could climb to 5 per cent this year,
senior BBC figures have been openly
speculating that a worst-case-scenario
licence fee deal could leave it a further
£1 billion out of pocket.
The corporation is also wrestlingfrom the corporation to increase its
£3.75 billion income in line with infla-
tion. Other reports have suggested that
the licence fee could be frozen for up to
two years as part of the agreement.
Government sources are keen to en-
sure the settlement takes account of the
“fiscal pressures currently being felt
across the nation and by individual
households” because of economic diffi-
culties caused by the pandemic.
The licence fee deal has been delayed
for months after a cabinet reshuffle in
September, during which Dorries took
on the culture brief. BBC board mem-
bers held an extraordinary meeting on
August 25 in anticipation of an agree-
ment, but Dorries wanted to cast
another eye over the negotiations.
She has challenged the corporation
to tighten its belt, as well as presentJake Kanter Media Correspondent
A
udiences on
both sides of
the Atlantic
have a
healthy
appetite for The Great
British Bake Off. US
trademark law, however,
has called for some
visual effects wizardry to
ensure the popular TV
series is fit for American
consumption (Jake
Kanter writes).
Captain Disillusion, a
YouTube creator who
debunks internet
illusions, revealed how
the company behind the
show, Love Productions,
has meticulously
changed the
programme’s name on
the winner’s trophy to
avoid falling foul of US
trademark laws.
Channel 4’s baking
contest is carried onNetflix in the US but is
known as The Great
British Baking Show
because Pillsbury, an
American food brand,
owns the “bake off ”
trademark.
The programme is
virtually identical to the
UK version, except
references to the Bake
Off title have been
carefully altered.
Captain Disillusion,
whose real name is Alan
Melikdjanian, 41, said
that producers used 3D
object tracking to
change the show’s title
on the plinth. This
enabled them to blur the
words “The Great
British Bake Off ” and
change it to “The Great
British Baking Show”.
Melikdjanian found
examples of Paul
Hollywood, a judge onthe show, and the
former winner Nadiya
Hussain wielding the
trophy with the US title.
“It’s a real testament
to corporate pedantry,”
Melikdjanian joked. “I
hate that someone had
to put effort into
something so utterly
pointless, but such is the
life of a visual effects
artist.”
He pointed out other
examples in which old
episodes of Bake Off
have been changed to
avoid any legal issues.
This included editing
Sue Perkins’s
announcement of the
2015 winner to remove
the words “Great British
Bake Off ”.
For more recent
seasons, it has recorded
an alternative take of
the opening sketch, with
Noel Fielding and Matt
Lucas proclaiming:
“Welcome to The Great
British Baking Show.”
The franchise has
been a hit on Netflix in
America since it secured
the rights in 2018. New
episodes debut on the
US streaming service
just hours after they
have been broadcast on
Channel 4.
Love Productions did
not respond to requests
for comment.Computer wizardry
cooks up American
trophy for Bake Off
Bake Off is known in the
US as The Great British
Baking Show to avoid
copyright issues, and had
to blur the trophy in 2015
to hide the British titleC