The Great British Bake Off could be poised to return to its original home on the BBC. BBC director general Matt Brittin has stated that the broadcaster has been approached by Channel 4 to discuss a streaming partnership, potentially adding the beloved cooking show to iPlayer.
Speaking to Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday, in his first major public appearance since taking on the top BBC job six weeks ago, Brittin revealed that talks have taken place. The discussions could result in shows like Bake Off being added to iPlayer, marking a significant return for the programme after it left the BBC in 2016.
Merger Context and Channel 4’s Position
Referring to the merger between Sky and ITV, Brittin suggested that a deal between the two broadcasters would be in Channel 4’s interests. He told the committee: “All of these mergers are driven by the need to have scale. Channel 4 looks very subscale.” He added: “One opportunity for them would be, in partnership with the BBC, having content on iPlayer that continues to be ad-funded.”
Brittin continued: “There are an array of commercial, audience, public service, and technical issues, but what we’ll do is explore that as quickly as we are able, because I think that’s something that’s going to be important for public service media.”
Channel 4 CEO’s Rebuttal
However, Channel 4 CEO Priya Dogra previously rebuffed the assertion that Channel 4 could successfully merge with any broadcaster. Speaking at the Creative Cities conversation, she said: “I was in mergers and acquisitions for a long time and the thing you learn is that there are no mergers. There are only acquisitions. Someone is always buying someone else and from my seat, that’s the wrong answer for Channel 4, because it would just mean Channel 4 gets subsumed into another organisation.”
She went on to say that such a move would result in a loss of the broadcaster’s editorial voice, as well as negatively impact the creative sector.
Speculation and Official Statements
The comments come after speculation that ITV was in talks to take the beloved cooking show off Channel 4’s plate. A source told Metro: “It’s a great show. It’s on Channel 4, it’s doing well and Channel 4 has recommissioned it. This is speculation.”
Channel 4 said in a statement: “Channel 4’s GBBO deal is with Love and as such is unaffected by the Sky ITV deal. The show’s existing multi-year agreement with Love remains in place, meaning Bake Off fans will be able to continue to enjoy the show on Channel 4 as usual.”
