<figure class=”media-landscape” has-caption full-width lead”> Image caption The show was first broadcast in 2010
The BBC has lost the contract to broadcast The Great British Bake Off, which will now be shown on Channel 4.
It has signed a three-year deal with Love Productions, which makes the hit show, currently shown on BBC One.
The first programme, a version of Celebrity Bake Off, will come in 2017.
Love Productions said negotiations with the BBC had been taking place for a year, with a last-ditch meeting on Monday. They signed a deal with Channel 4 the same evening.
The BBC earlier said it hoped Love Productions would change their mind and that Bake Off was a “quintessentially BBC programme”.
Channel 4 is understood to have offered more money for the brand following the breakdown in negotiations with the BBC.
BBC media correspondent David Sillito said the show’s presenters had only just been told about the news and negotiations with them had yet to begin.
Image caption The contestants of the current series at the start of their Bake Off journey
Jay Hunt, Channel 4’s chief creative officer, said: “Channel 4 is very proud to be the new home for The Great British Bake Off.
“I’m delighted we have been able to partner with the hugely talented team at Love Productions to keep this much loved show on free-to-air television.”
Richard McKerrow, Love Productions creative director, said: “We believe we’ve found the perfect new home for Bake Off.
“It’s a public service, free-to-air broadcaster for whom Love Productions have produced high-quality and highly successful programmes for more than a decade.
“It’s tremendously exciting to have found a broadcaster who we know will protect and nurture The Great British Bake Off for many years to come.”
‘Enormous hit’
The opening show of the current series, the seventh, was watched by an average of 10.4 million viewers.
Bake Off was 2015’s most-watched programme, with 15.1 million viewers for the final, according to consolidated figures which include catch-up viewing. It got an average audience of 13.4m people watching on the night it was broadcast.
The show, currently airing on BBC One on Wednesday evenings, is hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, with Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry as the judges. It sees amateur bakers compete in a series of challenges.
Media captionA look at how the Great British Bake Off crown was won in 2015
In a previous statement, Love Productions thanked the BBC “for the role it played in making this show such an enormous hit” and “the faith they showed in us over the years to develop it”.
The BBC said: “Working with Love Productions, we have grown and nurtured the programme over seven series and created the huge hit it is today.
“We made a very strong offer to keep the show but we are a considerable distance apart on the money. The BBC’s resources are not infinite.”
<figure class=”media-landscape” has-caption full-width”> Image caption Nancy Birtwhistle, who won the 2014 series, with fellow finalists Luis Troyano, left, and Richard Burr
Jo Wheatley, the Bake Off winner in 2011, said she did a poll on her social media accounts and “lots of people were really outraged that it’s moving”.
“My gut feeling was a bit of shock to begin with – ‘oh no, how have the Beeb let that go?’.
“Now I’ve got my head around it I’m a little bit calmer.”
Flora Shedden, who competed in the 2015 show, tweeted: “Really sad to hear that the BBC has lost rights to Bake Off. Its success is down to format and aesthetic – commercialising will ruin that.”
Earlier this year it won at the National Television Awards in the category for Challenge Show, beating Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, Masterchef and The Apprentice.
<figure class=”media-landscape” has-caption full-width”> Image caption Contestant Val was seen trying to build a gingerbread creation earlier in series seven
It was announced in July that the show will get two Christmas specials later this year, with four bakers from previous series doing three seasonal challenges, replacing the Bake Off Masterclass programmes.
The show began on BBC Two in 2010 before moving to BBC One in 2014.
Bake Off also has a junior version, shown on CBBC.
Last year’s Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain is lined up as one of the judges for the next children’s series alongside chef and food writer Allegra McEvedy.
