The surprise deal, which will cost the BBC £750m by 2020, will be phased in from 2018/19 with the BBC taking on the full costs from 2020/21.
More Tv articles
Public service broadcasters must respond to changes in technology and viewer behaviour, Ofcom has said in it’s latest review of public service TV broadcasting.
The unstoppable force of Celebrity MasterChef won the 9pm slot, with 3.7 million viewers and a 19% share tuning to see gurning, spray-tanned horseman of the apocalypse, Rylan Clark cook some venison.
Yesterday saw ITV’s sob-fest Long Lost Family (9pm) once again claim Wednesday’s prime time slot as the highly theatrical factual drama easily beat its rivals.
The BBC Trust has approved plans to axe BBC Three as a television channel and move it wholly online as the Corporation looks to save £100 million a year.
For the fourth week in a row, BBC One’s real-life police procedural The Met: Policing London (9pm) secured the prime time slot and even managed to once again grow its audience in the process.
Discovery’s Eurosport will become the new home of the Summer and Winter Games between 2018 and 2024, following a deal worth £920 million.
The channel, which cut its staff by a third at the beginning of the year, also recorded a trading loss of £10 million, while revenue for the first six months of broadcasting was at £1.3 million.
While April was a strong month for UK commercial TV broadcasters, just one recorded an increase in network revenue in May, with total terrestrial channels down -3.6% on the previous year.
Tuesday night brought the end of Paul Abbot’s off-beat Mancunian cop dramedy, No Offence (9pm), which despite falling ratings, appears to be a hit for Channel 4.