Babcock International Group (Babcock) has won a 10-year contract
to continue providing services relating to the transmission and
distribution of radio and television for the BBC World Service.
The contract was awarded to Babcock following a rigorous
competitive process. It is designed to ensure that the BBC receives
the optimum value for money that continues to deliver high levels
of service for its audience. The contract start date is 1 April
2012; it is worth circa £200 million over 10 years.
Babcock has been a trusted delivery partner for the BBC World
Service for 15 years, and has ensured that the BBC World Service
reached its audience of 166 million. Under the terms of the
new contract, Babcock will build upon this heritage and provide
essential support to ensure that the BBC provides a reliable and
resilient service to its global audience. This will include:
- Scheduling and co-ordination of all BBC World Service shortwave
broadcasts across the globe. In the first year of the new
contract Babcock will co-ordinate a total of 180,335 hours of
transmissions for the BBC.
- Operating and maintaining the BBC's six high power sites and a
power station to ensure global coverage. This includes the BBC key
target areas of Africa and the Middle East, the Indian
Sub-Continent and South East Asia.
- Monitoring of high frequency broadcast performance (using
independent data). The BBC is committed to offering the best
quality of service to its worldwide audience and Babcock's
monitoring ensures the best possible audio quality is achieved in
the desired target areas.
- Managing the satellite network contracts and support of the
satellite distribution systems including 1,300 receivers worldwide
in over 650 locations in 128 countries.
- Maintaining the BBC World Service's FM Relay network. In
addition to the satellite receiver maintenance, Babcock will
support the equipment of more than 150 FM relay sites around the
world. This will underpin the resilience of the service offered by
the BBC.
By the end of the new contract the partnership will have lasted
for a quarter of a century. In 2009 Babcock and the BBC World
Service jointly won the 'Team of the Year - Professional and
Support Services' at the BBC Global News Reith Awards.
This was the first time an external supplier won an award at
this event. The year after Babcock was selected as the winner
of the Reith Award under the category of Professional Services.
Bryan Coombes, Director, Communications, Babcock, said: "Our
history of working in partnership with the BBC shows that we can
deliver value for money and unprecedented levels of performance. We
know and understand the BBC and the broadcasting industry and are
committed to finding the right solutions to the challenges the
broadcaster faces over the next ten years. We will achieve this
through offering innovative ideas that drive efficiencies over the
life of the contract."
Nigel Fry, Head of Distribution BBC Global News, said:"The new
contract with Babcock builds on the success of the last 15 years.
It will provide us with clarity of costs over the coming years, and
significant savings that are critical in the current economic
climate. Importantly, these savings will not affect the quality of
service that our global audience expects."
Pictured L to R: Zarin Patel, Chief Financial Officer, BBC with
Kevin Thomas, Chief Executive, Support Services Division,
Babcock