The Channel 4 deal is supposedly a three-year £75m deal, which they offered to Love Productions as talks between BBC came under strain.
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“We’ve had the most wonderful time on Bake Off, and have loved seeing it rise and rise like a pair of yeasted Latvian baps”.
They concluded: “We’re not going with the dough”.
Love creative director Richard McKerrow added: “We believe we’ve found the flawless new home for ‘Bake Off.’ It’s a public service, free-to-air broadcaster for whom Love Productions have produced high quality and highly successful programmes for more than a decade”.
The presenters have been a formidable team, with their “good cop, bad cop” approach and their many double entendres.
Off screen they have been friends for many years after meeting when they were students at Cambridge University.
In comments that may alarm viewers who loved the homely, non-commercial feel of the BBC show, Maisie McCabe, acting United Kingdom editor of the media and advertising magazine Campaign, said Channel 4 would be able to recoup some of its huge outlay via advertising revenue.
“Working with Love Productions, we have grown and nurtured the programme over seven series and created the huge hit it is today”. Channel 4, however, was thought to be able to offer Love Productions four times what it had been getting under its existing contract with the BBC. “The BBC’s resources are not infinite”, the corporation said in a statement.
Their most recent offer of £15m would have already been double the amount the BBC now pays for the show and its sister programmes (An Extra Slice and the Sport Relief specials).
Presenters Mel (left) and Sue will not follow the show to Channel 4..
During an appearance on Top Gear this year, he spoke of the potential of them leaving the channel if the show moved.
Under the new partnership the multi-award winning series will remain on free-to-air television.
How the move will affect USA viewing of “The Great British Baking Show” wasn’t immediately clear.
Channel 4 said they were “very proud” to be the new home for the series.
It is rumoured the programme – with judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood – could now move to ITV.
Love Productions had said it had been “unable to reach agreement” with the BBC, which has broadcast The Great British Bake Off for six years.
Former chief executive of Channel 4 Lord Grade has condemned the move of Bake Off from the BBC, saying: “Channel 4 has shot itself very seriously in the foot”.
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Love said it was “really saddened by this outcome because we always wanted to stay on the BBC”, London’s Guardian reported.
