Garvie hits back at BBCW critics

Dancing with the Stars

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BBC Worldwide's Wayne Garvie has staunchly defended the business against a groundswell of anger from the commercial sector over the extent of its activities.

Garvie, BBCW's managing director of content, said that far from distorting the commercial production market, BBCW helped it flourish.

He also expressed surprise at widespread criticism which surfaced at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival last weekend, when Garvie was in China.

"It's a bit peculiar and really came out of nowhere. What happened was some super-indies and indies which have distribution arms and are our competitors complained because we are competitive. The independent producers we deal with are very happy with what we are doing.

"How exactly are we distorting the market? ITV paid £35m for 12 Yard. We're taking minority stakes in a small number of production companies, to enable them to build new companies and to help the indie sector flourish."

Wall to Wall chief executive Alex Graham claimed that BBCW was facing a "cultural sub-prime crisis" by investing in indies overseas where it has little editorial control and that it should not take high risks with public funds.

John McVay, chief executive of Pact, agreed: "BBCW is effectively acting like a venture capitalist in a whole range of activities. Rather than being an equity business, shouldn't it be a [safer] bond business?"

He said Pact had made its misgivings known to both BBCW and the BBC Trust repeatedly over the past 18 months.

Garvie said BBCW's investments in overseas producers give it more, not less, control over its reputation and shows. "In the past we have not been happy with the quality of the programmes that we have licensed to existing companies, and we have not received sufficient revenues or had the level of control that we want over the brand."

Major shows such as Dancing with the Stars, the US remake of Strictly Come Dancing produced by BBCW in the US, have paved the way for future ventures, he added. By comparison, Weakest Link, which was licensed to another broadcaster, "died a quick death".

Some Edinburgh delegates were also angry about BBCW's £90m acquisition of a 75% stake in Lonely Planet and its joint-venture with the Times of India, which publishes the Indian version of Hello! magazine. They called for greater transparency and scrutiny.

The BBC Trust launched a review of BBCW's role in July but said it "has no plans" to revisit its decision to approve the Lonely Planet acquisition.

Asked whether the Trust acknowledged the industry anger in evidence at Edinburgh, a spokesman said: "[We] listen to all opinions within the industry about BBC activity, wherever they are expressed, and meet regularly with many industry representatives to hear their views."

BBC Worldwide: The backlash

John McVay, Pact chief executive
"BBCW can't be protected as a public company on the one hand and then let off the leash to be a rapacious and aggressive commercial organisation on the other. It would appear that BBCW no longer knows what its boundaries are."

Tim Hincks, Endemol UK chief executive
"There's trouble to come because BBCW is using publicly funded content to compete with British businesses and that's where it may come unstuck. What is its rationale for investing in indies and inflating prices when there is already a healthy market?"

Alex Graham, Wall to Wall chief executive
"Why would you assume a BBC start-up in the US would do the job better than Fremantle? It would only take one serious fuck-up to cause some serious damage to the BBC."

Gerhard Zeiler, RTL Group chief executive
"A lot of people in the commercial sector are wondering what direction this will go in. I don't think it's 100% in the interest of the licence fee payers that they pay for the expansion of BBCW overseas. I want to be very careful here, but I'm not the only one with a question mark."

Chris Hunt, DCD chief executive
"BBCW's acquisitions of [stakes in] Left Bank and Lonely Planet are
the latest examples of an imperialistic and anti-competitive culture within the BBC. It is surprising that it has not been picked up for it until now."