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http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> Row over sale of Broadcast http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1119862532 Message started by Forum Admin on Jun 27^th, 2005, 8:56am

Title: Row over sale of Broadcast
Post by Forum Admin on Jun 27^th, 2005, 8:56am

This is taken from BBC News Online:

BBC Broadcast sold off for £166m

The BBC has sold BBC Broadcast, its digital media subsidiary, for £166m to an Australian business consortium.

BBC Broadcast, which provides media, transmission, and promotional services, was the focus of a dispute, with unions fearing a sell-off would mean job cuts.

But new owner Creative Broadcast Services has agreed to a one-year moratorium on compulsory job losses.

BBC head Mark Thompson said the deal was subject to government approval. It should be completed by the end of July.

'Strong relationships'

The director general said it was the "best possible deal for the BBC as a whole".

The trade union Bectu, which represents the majority of staff at BBC Broadcast, is opposed to the sell-off in principle but has yet to comment on the deal.

Mr Thompson said: "Creative Broadcast Services is committed to growing BBC Broadcast as a business and maintaining a long-term partnership with the BBC.

"I'm confident this will allow us to maintain the strong relationships which already exist between the BBC and BBC Broadcast."

As well as a moratorium on compulsory job losses, Mr Thompson said the consortium had also agreed to protect workers' contracts for three years, continue to recognise unions and offer a "broadly comparable" pension scheme.

'Growing the business'

Creative Broadcast Services is led jointly by Macquarie Capital Alliance Group and Macquarie Bank, Australia's biggest investment bank.

"There is no intention for any staff redundancies during the one-year moratorium. Our focus is on growing the business," said a spokeswoman for Macquarie Capital Alliance.

It is believed BBC Broadcast has contracts with the BBC up to 2015, worth over £500m.

A two-day strike over job cuts at the BBC was called off last month after BBC managers and unions agreed to re-start negotiations.

Title: Re: Broadcast division sold
Post by Forum Admin on Jul 3^rd, 2005, 11:03am

This is taken from The Sunday Times, July 03, 2005:

UNION ATTACKS BBC OVER SALE TO AUSTRALIAN BANK
Mark Kleinman

THE country’s biggest broadcasting union is this week heading for a showdown with the BBC over the sale of its broadcast-services arm — a deal they suspect may net its management team large cash windfalls.

Bectu, whose members include hundreds of BBC Broadcast employees, will tomorrow ballot its members over last week’s agreement to sell BBC Broadcast to the Australian banking and investment group Macquarie for £166m.

The union will also complain in a letter to culture secretary Tessa Jowell that the BBC should abandon the sale of “the family silver”. It will demand fresh reassurances over pay and conditions for staff and seek clarification on the remuneration package agreed for senior BBC Broadcast executives.

Sources familiar with the deal between Macquarie and the BBC claimed it had been structured around a performance-related package that could earn BBC Broadcast’s managing director, Pam Masters, and some of her colleagues “life-changing” payouts.

The BBC insisted that its broadcast unit staff had played no role in selecting the division’s buyer. Macquarie Bank, the Australian bank that led the winning consortium, declined to comment on the rumoured incentive package.

BBC Broadcast, which provides services including programme promotions — such as for the recent revival of Doctor Who — is the latest in a line of British businesses acquired by Macquarie’s portfolio of investment funds. In recent months, Wightlink, the ferries operator, and Arqiva,
the former NTL transmission business, have been acquired by the firm.