The BBC has pledged to keep its best-known weather presenters on-screen after announcing the forecaster that will replace the Met Office after 94 years.
The corporation said hiring MeteoGroup would save the corporation “millions of pounds” over the next “seven years or so”.
The BBC’s Nigel Charters indicated that most weather staff, who are employed by the Met Office and the BBC, will make the transition.
“We know how fond people are of our weather presenters,” he said, in a blogpost explaining the implications of the new contract.
“We have taken steps so the vast majority of our well-known and much-loved presenters will continue to front BBC weather.”
Carol Kirkwood, one of the BBC’s best known weather presenters, is unaffected as she is directly employed by the BBC.
However most others such as Tomasz Schafernaker – who made headlines in 2010 after sticking up his middle finger at BBC newsreader Simon McCoy live on air – as well as John Hammond, Helen Willetts, Alex Deakin and Louise Lear, are employed directly by the Met Office.
A BBC spokeswoman said that any presenters who are currently employed by the Met Office will have the option of transferring to the BBC.
“You may not have heard of MeteoGroup, but it has more customers in the UK than any other commercial weather company,” said Charters.
“They already provide weather services for major UK clients such as the National Grid, the majority of those who maintain the UK Roads network, as well as the UK press and Channel 4 and Sky News.”
The BBC said that shifting the contract would mean that viewers will get a better experience including upgrading the BBC’s weather app.
“Audiences can expect to see a more personalised website with clearer and more searchable graphics and more information on screen and on air,” said Charters.
“We’ll also be using MeteoGroup’s graphics system so that our brilliant weather presenters can easily design and manage content themselves creating great images for TV and online.”
The BBC said that it was forced to review the Met Office contract by law and that the tender process involved several stages and was awarded to the “most economically advantageous tender”.
“We have taken forward the strongest bid based on best possible service and value for money for the licence fee payer,” said Charters.
The contract is believed to have made up a sizeable share of the £32.5m the Met Office receives from commercial organisations.
The BBC said that it will still continue to “work closely” with the Met Office severe weather warnings.
The Met Office hasn’t always got it right, with one of the most famous examples occurring in 1987 when Michael Fish sought to calm fears that a severe storm was brewing, saying that a viewer had called the BBC to say that there was a hurricane on the way.
“Don’t worry – there isn’t,” he said.
Hurricane-force winds promptly swept across the south of England, killing 18 people, knocking down trees and cutting the power supply to millions of people.
Up until 2013 MeteoGroup, which is headquartered in the UK, was owned by PA Group, the parent company of the Press Association news agency.
PA Group, which has shareholders including the owners of the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror and regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press, sold MeteoGroup to General Atlantic for €190m (164m) in 2013.
“MeteoGroup is honoured to have been chosen to partner with the world’s leading broadcaster,” said Richard Sadler, chairman of MeteoGroup.
“The BBC is dedicated to offering the best possible weather service to its audience and it has been a demanding selection process.”
