Government urges BBC to consider Worldwide sell-off.

Ministers on collision course with corporation, which insists commercial arm 'is not up for sale'.

The government has included BBC Worldwide in the portfolio of assets it is considering selling and is urging the corporation to "look more widely at the options for greater financial and operational separation, including a sale or partial sale".
This revelation appears to set the government on another collision course with the BBC, which today said that BBC Worldwide "is not up for sale", although it continued "to keep an open mind about the appropriate ownership structure".
According to sources, the BBC discovered just a couple of weeks ago that its commercial arm – which had annual revenues of about £1bn last year – was on the list.
This puts more political pressure on the BBC following a promise by the prime minister, Gordon Brown, yesterday to name and shame publicly-funded organisations that pay excessive salaries.
Although he did not explicitly name the BBC, briefings yesterday from government insiders made it clear that the BBC Trust will be urged to publish the salaries of leading on-screen talent, such as Jonathan Ross.
Now it has emerged that the government wants the BBC to consider a sell-off of BBC Worldwide and – to the surprise of corporation executives – has included the commercial arm in a document published yesterday called Operational Efficiency Programme: Asset Portfolio.
The asset portfolio list is among a series of documents published yesterday by the government as part of its plan to make savings in the public sector.
Although director general Mark Thompson admitted to the Guardian in September that a partial privatisation of BBC Worldwide was one option being considered as part of his strategic review of all the corporation's activities, the corporation is keen to maintain its independence from government and would expect to keep the proceeds of any sale of a stake in its commercial arm.
A BBC Trust spokeswoman said: "We note the government's report. Worldwide is not up for sale. The recent commercial review did not set out to consider ownership, but to improve the operation of Worldwide within its current ownership structure.
"However, any business operates in a dynamic environment. We continue to keep an open mind about the appropriate ownership structure for Worldwide."

The government, despite admitting that BBC Worldwide is different from other assets for sale, such as the Tote, in that "the ultimate parent undertaking and controlling party is the BBC which is incorporated in the UK by royal charter", wants the corporation to look again at a possible sale.
An annex at the end of the Asset Portfolio report says: "The government now expects the BBC to look more widely at the options for greater financial and operational separation, including a sale or partial sale.
"Alternatives to sale or partial sale might also include other structures that would potentially enable the introduction of external capital, broadening ownership of the asset and yet retaining the link to the BBC.
Any ownership or alternative commercial options for the business would need to be considered in this context."
The document lists details of BBC Worldwide's financial performance and notes that last month the BBC Trust published a review of the commercial arm's operations, which, the government said, "concluded that the trust should bring greater clarity to the direction, parameters and strategic priorities of BBC Worldwide's commercial activities, to ensure that they align with the BBC's public purposes".
BBC Worldwide has been at the centre of the debate about public service broadcasting over the last year, from whether or not Channel 4 should be given a stake in it to plug what it claims will be a £150m a year funding gap by 2012, to if it should have been allowed to make the controversial £89m purchase of 75% of travel guide Lonely Planet.
In an effort to allay fears about BBC Worldwide's activities expressed commercial rivals, the BBC Trust also announced a new governance framework for the commercial arm in September and a more detailed three-year strategy.


By Tara Conlan
Source:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/dec/08/bbc-worldwide-sell-off