Red Bee Media (formerly BBC Broadcast Division) has now been renamed as "Ericsson Broadcast and Media Services".

More information from a516digital.com.

... and yet, there's this story in today's TVBEurope

BBC signs seven-year playout deal with Ericsson

Ericsson acquired Red Bee Media in May 2014, and currently provides a number of broadcast and media services to the BBC including metadata, interactive services and access services.

"Ericsson today announced that it has signed a seven-year playout services contract with the BBC, with an estimated total value of between £150 million and £248 million, it has been reported.

The contract includes Playout and Media Management services for the BBC’s portfolio of TV channels in the UK (BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, CBeebies and CBBC) and its interactive Red Button service. The contract also includes playout and media management for the BBC’s commercially funded international news channel, BBC World News, which is available in more than 200 countries worldwide."

“This is a very good outcome for the BBC which meets all our objectives – guaranteeing quality, flexibility and innovation in a commercial deal which provides excellent value for money,” said Bal Samra, managing director, BBC Television. “By extending our partnership with Ericsson we have secured the future delivery of these broadcast critical services and delivered significant savings for the BBC.”

Thorsten Sauer, Head of Broadcast and Media Services at Ericsson, added: “We are proud that the BBC has selected Ericsson as its playout partner of choice. The BBC is one of the world’s premier broadcasters and drives innovation in the industry. This continued partnership is very important for our business and demonstrates both our technical innovation and the quality and expertise of our people and our operations in managing highly complex and dynamic media operations.


I cannot help but observe the fact that BBC Three does not feature in this contract, which surely means that the decision to drop it to a web-only service has already been decided.