"Panorama" current affairs show could be split from BBC in shakeup

The BBC is considering moving flagship show Panorama and some of its current affairs out of the corporation into a commercial subsidiary.
In the week that Panorama hit the headlines after its eagerly-awaited exposé of Mazher Mahmood was postponed for a second time, it has emerged that the weekly programme may not be protected from the proposal aired by director general Tony Hall earlier this year to shakeup in-house TV production. It will come as a surprise to media observers that the production of Panorama and parts of current affairs are being looked at as contenders for the new stand-alone subsidiary – dubbed NewCo internally at the BBC. BBC News, which produces the daily bulletins, is exempt from the changes.
Under Hall’s ‘compete or compare’ plan, BBC strategists are looking at how parts of the corporation could be spun off into a separate company that is allowed to make shows for rivals. The proposals are likely to need a change in the BBC’s charter.
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