BBC Studios and Post Production

BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd.

Type	Private subsidiary
Industry	Broadcasting
Predecessor(s)	BBC Resources Ltd.
Founded	1998
Headquarters	London, England, UK
Area served	United Kingdom
Parent	BBC
Website	www.bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com

BBC Studios and Post Production is a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, providing TV studios and post production services to the media industry.

Based at BBC Television Centre in London, BBC Elstree Centre in Hertfordshire and at the Paintworks in Bristol it works with a range of media companies making content for a variety of broadcasters, including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, as well as the BBC.

Credits include Avalon's award-winning Harry Hill's TV Burp for ITV, Strictly Come Dancing and It Takes Two, FIFA World Cup 2010, EastEnders, Zeppotron's 8 out of 10 Cats and 10 O'Clock Live for Channel 4, Later... with Jools Hollandand Endemol's Deal or No Deal for Channel 4. It also helps create award-winning TV promos and high-end effects and provides a range of digital media services, preserving, re-mastering and managing content through digital archiving, restoration and digital distribution. When it was known as BBC Resources, it assisted in creating scoreboards for the 1999 and 2000 Eurovision Song Contests.

BBC Studios and Post Production hosts corporate and industry events at its Television Centre studios, including conferences, product launches and award ceremonies. In February 2011 it facilitated the launch of Marussia Virgin Racing’s Formula One car with around 320 guests, including VIPS, partners, fans and media attending the event in Studio One.

Facilities

BBC Studios and Post Production has four fully equipped permanent HD studios at Television Centre in central London. It upgraded its largest studio, Studio One to HD back in 2006 and supported Strictly Come Dancing, which was the first live HD entertainment show in the UK. Studio Eight followed in 2007 and acted as the hub for the global Live Earth concerts in July of that year, supporting 22 hours of live HD coverage going out to over 135 countries across the world. Studio Four was upgraded to HD in September 2008.

The latest studio to go HD at Television Centre is Studio Six, is also thought to be the UK’s first 1080p/50Hz 3D capable TV studio.

BBC Studios and Post Production made a stereoscopic 3D Strictly Come Dancing trail for Children in Need at Television Centre. Its 3D team, along with 3Ality Digitals Stereographer Scot Steele, provided full studio and post production services for the three-minute 3D film featuring an Argentinean tango.

In 2010, BBC Studios and Post Production carried out a major technology refresh for EastEnders at its Elstree site in Hertfordshire, introducing new HD and tapeless workflows to support the show as it moves to HD in autumn 2010.

In October 2010, on the back of a successful relationship with Endemol, BBC Studios and Post Production secured a multi-million pound contract with Endemol, providing studios and post production services for Channel 4's Deal or No Deal at the Paintworks in Bristol. As part of the deal, BBC Studios and Post Production took over the lease of the studio.

In March 2011 BBC Studios and Post Production expanded its digital restoration and archive services by investing in Scanity from Digital Film Technology, a 2K film to file scanner. It also installed a new digital Media Hub facility in April 2011, providing centrally managed and highly scalable systems for global file delivery, transcoding, media storage, duplication, library digitisation and file-based quality check services. In autumn 2011 it digitally restored The Trumptonshire Trilogy for DVD and Blu-Ray release.

Company history

The company was originally known as BBC Resources and was set up in 1998, making an operating profit of £1.3 million in its first full year. It was divided into four business units: BBC Studios, BBC Post Production, BBC Outside Broadcasts, and BBC Costume + Wigs. The BBC Costume + Wigs division closed in February 2008, as it was no longer commercially viable and the costumes were sold as a going concern to Angels Costumiers. Following a lengthy sales process, which was announced in December 2005 but delayed until August 2007, BBC Outside Broadcasts was sold in March 2008 to SIS Communications. In August 2008 Mark Thomas became CEO of BBC Resources. On 1 December 2008 the management team announced that nearly 200 jobs would be lost by June 2009 as part of a restructuring move to make the business smaller, more flexible and resilient to changes in demand. This affected up to 38 Editors, 26 Assistants as well as operational staff, administration and support staff. In April 2009 the company announced it was merging the Studios and Post Production businesses, changing the company name to BBC Studios and Post Production and appointing a new leadership team. The company made a small trading loss in 2008-09. However, it made a small operating profit in 2009-10.

Sale process

A team led by Andrew Thornton were appointed by the BBC to manage the sale, with Ernst & Young acting as external advisers. The team were accountable to a BBC steering group including Zarin Patel and Peter Salmon.

Advertisements were placed in the Financial Times, The Times and Broadcast on 16 August 2007 inviting expressions of interest for the acquisition of this commercial subsidiary, with the aim of completing the transfer of engagements by the end of March 2008, subject to contract negotiations and approvals.

On 6 November 2007 The Guardian reported that the privatisation could be left with a shortfall of up to £15m to cover the transfer of the pensions of BBC Resources staff to a potential new employer.

The BBC has never released the names of the short-listed companies, with The Guardian reporting - in early 2008 - more leaks over concerns about pension obligations and asbestos exposure. On 7 March 2008 it was announced that the outside broadcast division would be sold, as expected, to Satellite Information Services- with a surprise announcement that the studios operation (employing around 350 staff at Television Centre and Elstree) would remain in BBC ownership.

In early June 2008, the fate of the third business was put on hold with the BBC stating that "for the time being, we are no longer actively in discussion with a buyer for Post Production" and that "like Studios, Post Production will remain within BBC Resources, which will continue to operate as a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC". The staff newspaper Ariel had reported on 18 March that Post's 400 staff had been told that the BBC "may need to look at other solutions if the business is not sold at this stage".

Figures show that £3.4m had been spent on "consultants, legal and internal costs" during the sell-off. The sale of BBC Outside Broadcasts generated a profit of £7.7 million.

BBC Costume + Wigs

BBC Costume and Wigs - trading as part of BBC Studios - was the second largest collection of its kind in the UK, after the leading suppliers Angels The Costumiers. The department closed in February 2008, as it was no longer commercially viable. Its future had been under review for some time and after exploring a range of options, the management team concluded that the best option was to close the department and dispose of the stock.

The initial sale of the collection fell through - the interested party was thought to have been prop hire company Superhire - and on 14 February 2008 the department ceased trading, with a BBC spokeswoman adding that "the arrangements [the corporation] was pursuing have not worked out and BBC Resources is currently inviting interested parties to consider making an offer to purchase."

The costume collection - consisting of over 1 million items - was eventually sold to costume house Angels and Bermans on 30 March 2008. This allowed for the BBC costume stock to remain within the UK, and be available to British and international TV and film productions in the future.

The collection of wigs was sold separately to The Wig Store Limited a management buy-out put together by Philippa Devon and Alan Godleman.

External links

• BBC Studios and Post Production web site