The BBC loses The Great British Bake Off to Channel 4.

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**Kilkrazy**

That's the end of that, then.

**MeanGreenStompa**

Urgh, whilst I have no interest in this show, my wife loves it and this will see it lose it's 'quaint charm' and become commercialized, overly dramatic and pulpy. A shame.

**Kilkrazy**

Exactly.

At least it went out on a high note last year with Nadiyah winning. I shan't bother to watch this year.

I feel sorry for Mary Berry but she has made a pile already and she has her other show and books to keep her going.

Perhaps it is for the best, though. All "reality TV" shows go through a pretty clear process of deterioration into crass commercialism, whatever higher level of existence they might have begun at.

**Mr. Burning**

GBBO is a fething product placement and commercial wet dream.

I'm not surprised its moving.

**Kilkrazy**

Recent news:

Mel and Sue, the popular comedienne presenters, are not mving with the show.

Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, the popular judges, may not be moving with the show. They like working with each other and with Mel and Sue. Hollywood has other BBC interests that might be threatened by moving to Channel 4.

The BBC and the production company have a one year lockout, preventing Channel 4 from broadcasting a GBBO until 2018.

Channel 4 paid £75 million for a three year contract which has a chance of ending up basically worthless.

Well done to the government for insisting that the BBC should spend more money with independent production companies than on developing its own shows.

**reds8n**

via Popbitch

>> Half-baked <<
Revenge, served soggy

A lot has been written in recent
days about Channel 4's buy-out
of the Great British Bake Off.
Much of it has been focused on
the money, and the catastrophic
investment it will no doubt
prove to be. But, as is so often
the case with TV, the money
takes a back seat to monstrous
egos and petty vendettas.

Those in the telly biz say the
real reason that C4 coughed up
75 million for Bake Off is that
Jay Hunt (current Chief Creative
Officer of C4; former controller
of BBC1) is still furious about
being made the focus of the BBC/
Miriam O'Reilly/Countryfile ageism
row back in 2011 – so wanted to
hit the Beeb where it hurt.

Maybe she has a wider strategy
in place but, given that she's
just paid 75 million quid for
what essentially amounts to a
tent and a couple of ovens,
it does look a little like she
may have overswung this one.

-------------------------------------
Love Productions is 70% owned by
Sky TV, who must be just devastated
to see how much discomfort all this
is causing the BBC and Channel 4.
-------------------------------------

>> Poached egg-on-face <<
Channel 4 eat own words

"We grew it from a dangerous
idea to a brand that resonated
globally. Of course it's
disappointing that it's then
sold to the highest bidder,
ignoring the risk a publicly
owned channel took backing it."

– Jay Hunt, speaking in March
2016, about Netflix poaching
Black Mirror from them

Jay Hunt has been heard telling
staff that Mel and Sue will never
work on C4 again after their
'betrayal' by leaving the show.

**BrookM**

And here's Viz's take on this all..

Spoiler:

**Kilkrazy**

The latest news is that Paul Hollywood is staying with the show but Mary Berry is leaving it.

**Ketara**

I want the BBC to now launch the 'Super British Bake-Up', starring the three who refused to leave which is essentially the same show with minor modifications.

**Yodhrin**

I'm still stunned this is seriously considered a major news story. It's a cooking show, there are billions of the things, are people really that enamoured of saccharine flag-waving giftshop "Britishness" that they can't handle this one going away for a bit then coming back with different presenters?

**Buttery Commissar**

This is easily one of the nicest cooking shows around though. They compete not for jobs, money or a shot at cooking somewhere prestigious... They get a garden party and some flowers.
It's a show about fairness and sportsmanship as much as baking.

**General Annoyance**

I actually watch and enjoy the show...

This one seems like a really bad idea; Mel and Sue aren't moving with it, and Mary Berry isn't moving either. You've basically killed the show right there, much like a certain other group of BBC presenters who moved away from a show that they were the icons for...

Yodhrin wrote:
are people really that enamoured of saccharine flag-waving giftshop "Britishness" that they can't handle this one going away for a bit then coming back with different presenters?

And how well did changing presenters go last time for a big TV series?

**notprop**

Just as well Channel 4 isn't publicly owned...oh wait!

**Kilkrazy**

The sad thing is that Channel 4 used to produce the kind of challenging innovative shows they were created to make. Gradually it has sunk to endless series of "Four In A Bed" and "Come Dine With Me" and now the mission is to look around other channels to see what is really good and spend a fortune to buy it away, rather than actually invest in new stuff.

IDK if Channel 4 paid £25 mill or £75 mill for Bake Off, but either way imagine how many completely new shows they could have developed with the same money?

I don't blame Paul Hollywood for moving over. He has signed a three year contract, probably for £1 mill a series. If it's a dreadful failure he won't be blamed and can leave a richer man.

**General Annoyance**

Kilkrazy wrote:
The sad thing is that Channel 4 used to produce the kind of challenging innovative shows they were created to make. Gradually it has sunk to endless series of "Four In A Bed" and "Come Dine With Me" and now the mission is to look around other channels to see what is really good and spend a fortune to buy it away, rather than actually invest in new stuff.

Indeed - it's less good stuff like Dispatches and more regurgitated garbage like Big Brother, which they simply won't let go of. Meanwhile the BBC is always trying new stuff while keeping the old things that now trump what Channel 4 has, such as Panorama.

Man Come Dine With Me used to be the business - Dave Lamb is the only thing holding that show up.

IDK if Channel 4 paid £25 mill or £75 mill for Bake Off, but either way imagine how many completely new shows they could have developed with the same money?

Either way it was a stupid idea - they've bought the premise of the show, but almost none of the charm that came with Mel and Sue, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. They just have the last presenter.

At least they kept more presenters than Top Gear did, and no, the Stig doesn't count unfortunately

I don't blame Paul Hollywood for moving over. He has signed a three year contract, probably for £1 mill a series. If it's a dreadful failure he won't be blamed and can leave a richer man.

Sounds like a good plan to him, provided the other 3 weren't thinking of making a Bake Off spin off

I don't watch much new TV nowadays, since YouTube takes up most of my media consumption outside of Video Games. With the new licencing deal from the BBC for iPlayer coming into action, it's unlikely any of this will matter to me personally, as I won't even be able to watch any BBC programmes over the internet without paying for a TV licence.