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Saturday night TV shock after Beeb executives facing savage Tory pressure to make cuts, and ITV could snatch it within days on three-year deal

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BBC AXES The Voice in £55million row as ITV is poised to swoop in and take over
1 COMMENT 22:23, 13 OCT 2015 UPDATED 22:55, 13 OCT 2015
BY NICOLA METHVEN
Saturday night TV shock after Beeb executives facing savage Tory pressure to make cuts, and ITV could snatch it within days on three-year deal

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GettyThe VoiceThe Voice is being AXED by the BBC
ITV is poised to swoop on The Voice after the BBC caved in to Tory pressure and ditched the show.

Senior Beeb executives facing savage Tory cuts are *understood to have been ordered not to get into a bidding war over future series of the Saturday night talent blockbuster, which has cost £55million so far.

They have given up on screening a sixth run in 2017, leaving the door open for rivals ITV to snap up the show, which pulls in eight million viewers.

One senior source revealed: “We’d really like to hang on to the Voice, it’s a brilliant show and viewers love it, but we won’t get into a bidding war with ITV.”

Another insider added: “The BBC has had no choice but to walk away. In the face of all the cuts being made following the licence fee settlement it was impossible to compete.

"It’s a sad day, because it’s a BBC show.”

The corporation came under serious pressure in August when Culture *Secretary John Whittingdale made it clear that he thought the BBC had wasted licence payers’ money competing with ITV for The Voice, which stars Paloma Faith, will-i-am, Boy George and Ricky Wilson.

He said: “The Voice has been very popular, but the fact it was contested between the BBC and ITV, the result was to force up the money paid for it.

"It was going to be on free-to-air so should the BBC get into bidding wars? Is that a good use of the licence payers’ money?”

News of the show’s axe came as BBC director of *television Danny Cohen, who bought the Dutch show to beef up BBC1’s Saturday nights and has long championed it, handed in his notice after eight years.

He is understood to have had a strained relationship with Director-General Tony Hall, who has been leading negotiations over the BBC’s future.

Cohen is expected to move to the US.

ITV swooped in with its offer for The Voice and a deal thought to be three years from 2017 is expected to be signed in days.

Bosses promise to match the £11million-a-series costs.

They will also exploit the brand with spin-off shows, including a version just for children.

ITV bought Talpa Media, the firm behind The Voice, earlier this year.

The BBC said: “We wouldn’t comment on negotiations.”

The cuts it faces mean it may have to *scrap whole *channels or even EastEnders.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/b...on-row-6629862

I'll be shocked if this is true since filming for Series 5 has already started... or maybe that will be the last BBC series? ITV want to get the rights to it and The Voice Kids for CITV too.

[Scarlett.]

I hope we're starting to see the death of these talent shows now, they're such a tired format.

[Ross.]

Not just as Queen Paloma arrives </3

[Daniel.]

About time.

[Jordan.]

This show is far better than X Factor but they don't give the viewers enough time to invest in the contestants. Hopefully ITV do pick it up and change the format (and axe XF)

[JoshBB]

I wasn't a huge fan of the show anyway tbh, it's a shame though because millions of people do watch this and they won't be able to anymore because of government cuts.

[T*]

if all the gimmicks to your tv show are just some spinny chairs then it deserves to get axed..

[Marsh.]

I swear to god if they come for Eastenders.

[Daniel-X]

Can't say I'll miss it. None of the series have produced any stars apart from Becky Hill.

I do sympathise with the BBC though because they spent millions on it.

[Marsh.]

I doubt I'll enjoy it anymore anyway. Boy George is a narcissistic twat.

[Black Dagger]

They should have had countless stars over the years off the back of this. Talent has been insane. They just could never be arsed promoting them post show when they could have easily played them on any of the BBC radio stations constantly.

[JoshBB]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

I swear to god if they come for Eastenders.

Nah they wouldn't want to upset their oldies

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by JoshBB

Nah they wouldn't want to upset their oldies

Eastenders has a young fanbase with the majority being teens to twenty-somethings.

Corrie is watched by old people.

[LukeB]

Niamh will be sad

[Headie]

Full article here (and in the OP):

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/b...on-row-6629862

[JoshBB]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Eastenders has a young fanbase with the majority being teens to twenty-somethings.

Corrie is watched by old people.

Oh fair enough then

I've never heard anyone my age talk about eastenders tho

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by JoshBB

Oh fair enough then

I've never heard anyone my age talk about eastenders tho

I've never heard a fetus speak at all.

[Headie]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

I swear to god if they come for Eastenders.

The BBC said: “We wouldn’t comment on negotiations.”

The cuts it faces mean it may have to *scrap whole *channels or even EastEnders.

Oop

[T*]

i don't even care if the whole bbc gets axed
they're an abomination

[JoshBB]

Originally Posted by Tøm

i don't even care if the whole bbc gets axed
they're an abomination

omg no

Apprentice & GBBO would be gone.
And we'd also lose BBC News meaning the corporations would practically take over.

[Ross.]

They won't come for EastEnders, they're building a new set and everything.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Hayden

Oop

I've read the rumours. They better back off.

[Headie]

Can't they just axe BBC4, does anyone even watch that channel

[JoshBB]

Originally Posted by Hayden

Can't they just axe BBC4, does anyone even watch that channel

[2]!!!!

plus bbc3 actually has decent documentaries every now and then that don't make you fall half asleep so idk why that's being cut and not 4

[Cal.]

I had a feeling this would happen due to them being pressured (apparently) to axe EastEnders as well and this will kinda let them keep EastEnders I'm guessing. It's also come at a good time as X Factor is apparently being rested after this year's series so I guess ITV will just acquire The Voice and air it in X Factor's autumn/winter slot.