The chief executive of BBC Worldwide has been lambasted by a committee of MPs for maintaining a “shroud of secrecy” over whether Alan Yentob has a lucrative commercial deal for global sales of the BBC1 TV series Imagine he presents.
Tim Davie, the chief executive of the commercial arm of the BBC, was repeatedly grilled about the potential existence of a lucrative deal for a cut of international sales of Imagine by members of the House of Commons culture select committee.
Yentob, whose position at the BBC has come under scrutiny and criticism following the fallout from the Kids Company charity scandal, is paid £183,000 as the corporation’s creative director and a further six-figure sum to present Imagine.
Labour MP Christian Matheson quizzed Davie extensively about the existence of a further deal related to a slice of international TV sales of the show, with Davie demurring or deflecting at every turn.
“I think it appropriate not to comment on an individual’s deal with BBC Worldwide on their programmes,” he said. “I’m not going to talk about the detail of it. The principle surely is are you as the owner of the intellectual property getting a proper return and margin from it from BBC Worldwide. Our values are in line with the BBC but we are a commercial organisation. I don’t think it is in the interest of licence fee payers [to publicise] that person X gets Y or whatever as you get into a vey difficult situation.”
Later in the session, part of the committee’s look at the corporation ahead of BBC charter renewal, the baton was taken up by SNP MP John Nicolson.
Nicolson upbraided Davie for dodging Matheson’s questions pointing out that he wasn’t asking about any commercially sensitive detail – a line of argument Davie used to avoid answering – but “just about the existence” of a deal.
He said that it was not healthy if a person with a “huge reputation” in broadcasting can leverage personally lucrative deals for themselves “when much of the capability came from the BBC licence fee”.
He said Davie was leaving the issue “shrouded in mystery” and “firing people’s interest” in Yentob.
“And you just won’t answer,” he told Davie.
“As a commercial executive I’m not swayed by the rank [of someone] in the slightest,” said Davie. “The bottom line is I’m running a commercial operation and I don’t want to pay anyone more than I have to. I have no interest in paying anyone anything I don’t need to be. I’m interested on returning investment [to the BBC].”
BBC Worldwide has form in cutting deals with stars, most notably with former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and ex-executive producer Andy Wilman.
Between them the duo owned half of a company called Bedder 6, with BBC Worldwide the other shareholder, which exploited Top Gear’s global commercial potential.
However the corporation has tried to steer away from such deals after it became increasingly embarrassing having to reveal tens of millions of pounds of payouts to Clarkson and Wilman in a series of annual reports.
BBC Worldwide bought out the pair, Clarkson was paid £8.4m for his stake and had accrued £10.24m in dividends over five years from the venture, in September 2012.