BBC to lose The Voice to ITV?

ITV have apparently been bidding with offer to air The Voice in 2017, with a deal expected to be signed in days.

A BBC source said: “We love The Voice and want to keep it, but we will not get into a bidding war”.

The source also claimed that ITV could take over the show in a three-year deal, telling The Mirror: “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”.

Earlier this week senior Beeb executives facing savage Tory cuts were ordered not to get into a bidding war over future series of the Saturday night talent blockbuster.

A source for the BBC pinned the decision not to renew the series on severe cost cutting with The Voice having come under particular attack for not being the type of programme that should be produced with license fee money.

Each series of the show costs about £11m to make with the BBC said to be keen to hold onto the show but not at any cost.

However, the BBC has now been forced to hand over the rights to the Voice United Kingdom after the Conservative government has called for the BBC to save over £100 million a year.

In a statement, he said: “After eight wonderful years at the BBC, it is time for my next big challenge”.

Former BBC chairman Michael Grade has also been critical of the programme. “The chairs turn around, that’s it. It’s not enough for me”.

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

Another insider added: “The BBC has had no choice but to walk away”.

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.

Hall has said it is “inevitable” that services will have to be closed as a result, with proposals due to be published by the BBC before the end of the year.

The news that The Voice United Kingdom has been axed from the BBC just comes just one day after BBC controller Danny Cohen announced that he was leaving the corporation after eight years.