Corporation rejects advances

The BBC has spurned an audacious bid from comedy producers Avalon and Hat Trick to buy BBC Three.

Bosses of both companies wrote to BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead with a proposal to save the the youth-orientated channel from moving online only.

Jon Thoday, joint managing director of Avalon, and Jimmy Mulville, managing director of Hat Trick, said they would increase the channel’s programming budget from £81million to £100million a year, all going to UK companies. If the channel moves online, its budget is expected to fall to around £50million.

However the BBC said the idea was a non-starter, saying in a tweet from its press office: 'BBC Three not for sale because it’s not closing – proposal to move it online is part of bold move to reinvent BBC’s offer for young people.’.

Avalon has made a raft of shows for BBC Three Live At The Electric, Lee Nelson's Well Good Show and Russell Howard’s Good News (now on BBC Two). The shows often feature clients of its management arm including Howard, Lee Nelson’s creator Simon Brodkin, Russell Kane and Greg Davies, who stars in Cuckoo, made by Roughcut.

Hat Trick’s programmes include Have I Got News For You and Outnumbered for BBC One and Some Girls for BBC Three

The BBC Trust is currently conducting a consultation on its plans to move BBC Three online only, Click here to contribute.

Published: 20 Jan 2015