BBC confirms post-Brexit non-UK base plans
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 31 January 2019

Almost a week after reports emerged that the UK public broadcaster had met with EU member states regarding for a licence to continue broadcasting across the continent post Brexit, BBC Director General Tony Hall has now confirmed the existence of such plans.

The UK is officially due to cease being a member of the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 29 March 2019 and ant TV channels currently based in the UK that wish to continue to broadcast to EU countries, after this time if the UK leaves with no deal or after any transition period, will require new licences and an EU base to do so. Currently the BBC offers BBC World, BBC Entertainment, BBC First and BBC Earth across the EU.

After an initial statement merely confirming that the situation was under review, Hall disclosed to The Times newspaper that that the corporation could indeed set up a base in Brussels or Amsterdam after Brexit. In a clear nod to the inevitable questions regarding cost, Hall attempted to assure that staff overheads in the new base would be low.

On a more general note, research firm IHS Markit calculated that of the 1,039 cable and satellite TV channels licensed by UK-regulator Ofcom, 700 target other countries and that the companies likely to be most affected include Discovery, with more than 100 channels licensed by Ofcom, Sky and Sony, with 40 channels each. More than 100 channels that reach viewers in the UK and Republic of Ireland would require also re-licensing.

“Thanks to its membership of the EU, the UK has been the main beneficiary of an explosion in the cable and satellite TV business in Europe over the past two or three decades, The likely loss of much of this business is one of the many unintended consequences of Brexit,” said Tim Westcott, director of research and analysis, channels and programming at IHS Markit in a new report, Leave Or Remain: UK-Licensed Broadcasters Weigh Up Brexit Options.

“Some companies already have offices, editorial teams and workforces spread across a number of EU states,” added Aled Evans, senior research analyst, channels and programming at IHS Markit. “For these broadcasters, adjusting their business operations to satisfy the establishment criteria may prove relatively straightforward. There will certainly be a lot of short-term disruption, especially if hundreds of channels require new licenses in a few weeks' time. International broadcasters would clearly like to have had more clarity about future regulatory links between the UK and the EU at this late stage in the process.”