BBC considers BBC Worldwide stake sale

The BBC is evaluating the sale of a stake in its commercial arm BBC Worldwide as part of a wide-ranging operational review, according to The Guardian.

Last week, the BBC Trust ordered a review of all BBC activities to go ahead once the digital switchover is completed in 2012. BBC director general Mark Thompson said that a range of options are currently being considered by the corporation as it comes under increasing pressure from the government and rival broadcasters.

However, despite calls for the BBC to scale back its operation, Thompson remained defiant that the corporation would continue its expansion into the digital space.

"We are on a migration from an analogue to a digital world. Some people want us to step backwards, to be just television and radio with a handful of channels. I have to say that's delusional," he explained.

"We're already a digital broadcaster and the web is as much a part of our future as television and radio. We are not stepping backwards but, as we move forward, we have a greater care and greater focus on how we fit in with the rest of media."

Among options currently under consideration is the stock market listing of BBC Worldwide, which accrued revenues of around £1 billion last year thanks to rights agreements for hit shows such as Top Gear and Strictly Come Dancing.

"One of the things we should look at over this period is whether 100% ownership of Worldwide is essential going forward," said Thompson.

This part privatisation would mean selling a stake in Worldwide to a rival broadcaster or possibly an international partner in a move which would seemingly put an end to talk of a merger between Worldwide and Channel 4, despite a deal previously believed to be "imminent".

In contrast, Thompson said that a merger arrangement such as this would make Worldwide a rival in size to the BBC and therefore miss "the fundamental point of what Worldwide is".

Thompson also discussed Worldwide's purchase of the Lonely Planet travel guides, which Sky chairman James Murdoch recently described as a "nationalisation" of the publisher.

The director general said that the acquisition of Lonely Planet "made very good strategic sense" at the time, but conceded that "the world is a very different place now".