BBC Studios and Post Production
Encyclopedia
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 Holland and 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 Contest
s.
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.
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 S&PP 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 S&PP 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 S&PP 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 S&PP took over the lease of the studio.
In March 2011 BBC S&PP 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.
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.
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.
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.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, providing TV studios and post production services to the media industry.
Based at BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre at White City in West London is the headquarters of BBC Television. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it remains one of the largest to this day; having featured over the years as backdrop to many BBC programmes, it is one of the most readily recognisable such facilities...
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
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, Channel 5 and Sky, as well as the BBC.
Credits include Avalon's award-winning Harry Hill's TV Burp
Harry Hill's TV Burp
Harry Hill's TV Burp is a British television comedy programme produced by Avalon Television for ITV and hosted by comedian Harry Hill. The show presents a satirical look at the week's television, including extracts from TV shows with added sketches, observational voice-overs, and guest appearances...
for ITV, Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
and It Takes Two
Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two
Strictly: It Takes Two is a British television programme, the companion show to the popular BBC One programme Strictly Come Dancing. It airs on weeknights during the run of the main show on BBC Two at 6:30pm...
, FIFA World Cup 2010, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, Zeppotron's 8 out of 10 Cats
8 Out of 10 Cats
8 out of 10 Cats is a television comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for Channel 4. It was first broadcast on 3 June 2005. The show is based on statistics and opinion polls, and draws on polls produced by a variety of organizations and new polls commissioned for the programme, carried out by...
and 10 O'Clock Live for Channel 4, Later... with Jools Holland and Endemol's Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
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 Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
s.
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 (BBC S&PP) has four fully equipped permanent HD studios at Television Centre in central London. It upgraded its largest studio, Studio One to HD back in 2006and 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 S&PP 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 S&PP 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 S&PP 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 S&PP took over the lease of the studio.
In March 2011 BBC S&PP 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.
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 & YoungErnst & Young
Ernst & Young is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers ....
acting as external advisers. The team were accountable to a BBC steering group including Zarin Patel
Zarin Patel
Zarin Patel is the BBC's Chief Financial Officer. She took up the post on 1 December 2004 following the promotion of John Smith to Chief Operating Officer. She was previously Head of Revenue Management, the department within the BBC responsible for collecting the Television licence, a job she had...
and Peter Salmon.
Advertisements were placed in the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and Broadcast
Broadcast magazine
Broadcast is a weekly magazine for the United Kingdom television and radio industry. It covers a wide range of news and issues affecting the professional broadcast market in the UK. Broadcast has regular weekly sections covering News, Commissioning, Facilities, Analysis, Opinion, Interview,...
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
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
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
Satellite Information Services
Satellite Information Services is a company which provides news gathering services and broadcasts events such as Horse Racing and Greyhound Racing, as well as Lottery games such as Rapido and 49's, to betting shops in the United Kingdom and Ireland and other Worldwide destinations.It was formed in...
- with a surprise announcement that the studios operation (employing around 350 staff at Television Centre
BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre at White City in West London is the headquarters of BBC Television. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it remains one of the largest to this day; having featured over the years as backdrop to many BBC programmes, it is one of the most readily recognisable such facilities...
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
Ariel (newspaper)
Ariel is the in-house magazine/newspaper of the BBC, published weekly on Tuesdays, and named after the statue of Shakespeare's Prospero and Ariel by Eric Gill on the facade of the BBC's Broadcasting House, London....
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.