Siemens Business Services has been awarded a 2-billion pound 10-year IT outsourcing contract with BBC Technology that includes the acquisition of the company, a division of the BBC. The sale, if accepted by review by the BBC Governors and other U.K. and E.U. officials, is expected to be completed by the fall.
The sale follows a rigorous bidding process that started last fall and at one time included Accenture, HP and IBM. The BBC has been pressured to cut expenses and the sale of BBC Technology to Siemens is expected to result in annual savings of at least 20-30 million pounds. BBC Technology has 1,400 employees and annual revenues of 230 million pounds.
BBC says it chose Siemens because the company has the "scale, resource and funding levels" to cost-effectively meet its future technology requirements. BBC Technology, which counts DirecTV, ESPN and BskyB as among its prominent clients, was formed in 2001 to exploit the technology expertise of the BBC.
