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Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
I imagine that this is only true for older programming that the BBC own the rights to. The Government has for some time forced the BBC to use independent TV production companies, hence how Channel 4 were able to poach that popular baking programme from the BBC.
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Back when the BBC made all its own programming, you would expect to see its drama output repeated a couple of times, as long as the show was still in production. Once a show went out of production the whole lot was liable to show up as a repeat for years afterwards.
What seems to have changed that is firstly, the arrival of affordable home VHS equipment, so the BBC could sell tapes of its content. It was then no longer in its interests to broadcast for free what it could sell at a premium (and the terms of its Royal Charter have never prevented it from doing this). Secondly, by the end of the 1980s as you say the BBC was obliged by charter to source a proportion of its content from other production companies. These are original commissions but the deals are structured so that the BBC doesn’t own the copyright. They are effectively a top tier production partner with exclusive first run rights. After that it’s the production company that gets the overseas and DVD sales, plus the right to resell the content to Dave or whoever.