BBC Trust flags up BBC Worldwide review

Addressing a House of Commons select committee for culture, media and sport yesterday, BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said: "The Trust has already decided that we need to tighten both the mission and the guidelines around BBC Worldwide.

"It is now an appropriate time to review the boundaries of (BBCWW) and we are of the view that they need to be modestly contained and the detail of that we will make public once we have finished our inquiries."

He said that the results of the review should be published next year.

BBC Worldwide has come under fire from its UK commercial rivals in recent times for allegedly encroaching on their activities. Most recently, it was criticised for launching Lonely Planet magazine, following its acquisition of a 75% stake in the publisher. Its rivals argue that BBC Worldwide should only launch brand extensions around properties present on BBC TV or radio.

BBC Worldwide generated revenues of £919m in the last financial year, with profits of £117m, all of which are returned to the BBC. Among its operations it operates TV channels worldwide reaching 285 million homes. It is the UK's third-largest magazine publisher and accounts for around half of all UK TV programming sales.

BBC Worldwide and the BBC Trust declined to comment further.