Rumours of BBC possibly floating BBC Worldwide

A while ago the director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, hinted that privatising all or part of the commercial arm of the corporation, BBC Worldwide could be considered as part of the BBC’s long-term plan.

According to the Financial Times, it seems that talks could well be happening already and that Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse are involved as part of the consultation process.

This follows the recent review by the BBC Trust, when BBC Worldwide was apparently given the go ahead to purchase the remaining half of UKTV that is currently owned by Virgin Media.

However, any other projects would have to be scaled down.

This could be the start of BBC Worldwide becoming a separate entity from the BBC and would also allow plans to work with Channel Four to go ahead.