Avalon Television and Hat Trick Productions have submitted their “alternative” vision for BBC3 to the BBC Trust as they bid to rescue the TV channel from closure.
The two production companies sent their £100m BBC3 bid proposals to the Trust on Tuesday – the final day of the governing body’s consultation on the channel’s future.
The plans were also sent to BBC director of television Danny Cohen. In an email, Avalon and Hat Trick bosses Jon Thoday and Jimmy Mulville called on him to be open minded about the document and “reconsider” his decision on BBC3.
The indies have offered £100m for the “right to broadcast original and acquired programming” currently aired by BBC3, either under its existing brand or an alternative name. They believe this offers “fair value” for the channel and is “to the ultimate benefit of the licence fee payer”.
The proposals are reliant on the cooperation of BBC management and they hope that the Trust will compel the executive to consider the alternative vision. Trust chairman Rona Fairhead has previously confirmed she will assess Avalon and Hat Trick’s plans.
“There are a number of areas that need to be addressed to enable the sale. The biggest appears to be that of split rights, however this can be overcome as all the rights holders, including the BBC, will benefit financially,” the 13-page document said.
“Assuming the BBC management engages in a collaborative process other issues of cross promotion, spectrum, brand and content deals can easily be resolved. The wider industry and specifically other suppliers wish the channel to continue.”
Revenue projections
The proposals contained research and analysis from Xsequor Partners and GfK, which form the foundations of Avalon and Hat Trick’s financial forecasts. Tapping into BBC3’s young and male-skewing audience, they believe the station could generate revenues of up to £170m a year in a commercial environment.
They predict that the channel’s annual content spend, which would be overseen by an operating company and creative team that would be distinct from Avalon and Hat Trick, could range from £100m to £120m. Overheads would be in the region of £15m to £20m.
The indies’ document was damning of the corporation’s proposals to move BBC3 online. It pointed to the BBC’s Digital Media Initiative fiasco as evidence of the risk involved in technology projects and explained that online players, such as Vice Media, are actively trying to push into traditional TV.
“Potentially this decision could create a generation that disconnects from traditional television and the wider broadcasting community. This effect will compound as they age,” the document said.
“BBC3 online would become one more website in a content landscape with low barriers to entry, low content spends, low differentiation and low engagement. In effect it would virtually disappear.”
‘Gaping hole’
The proposals added that the BBC’s strategy to plough the £50m of savings from closing BBC3 into BBC1 drama and the proposal to launch BBC1+1 “lacks purpose and focus”.
It said: “If town planners shut down Top Shop on the High Street but said Marks & Spencer was expanding so “you can get more stuff where your Mum shops” we know that the effect would be a gaping hole in the high street for young shoppers.”
A BBC spokesman said: “BBC3 is not closing and it is not for sale but with the licence fee frozen we’ve had to make some difficult choices in order to save £800 million a year, including our proposal to move the channel online.
“There is no easy solution but we have chosen to make a bold move to reinvent the service rather than simply having to take money out of all our programmes across the board.”
No comments yet