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BBC sells off magazines

August 16, 2011

BBC Worldwide has agreed the sale of its magazine business, which publishes titles including Top Gear and Radio Times, for £121 million (€138m).

Exponent, owner of online media jobs service Gorkana has acquired BBC Magazines. It is taking over all Worldwide’s non-BBC-branded magazines outright as well as the rights to publish BBC-branded titles including Top Gear in a licensing and contract publishing deal. The deal will see the 34 magazines published by BBC Magazines move to Exponent.

Radio Times, which the BBC has published since 1923, will be among those sold outright along with a number of other titles deemed to be “less closely aligned to the BBC” such as Olive and Gardens Illustrated.

BBC and BBC programme-branded titles, such as Gardeners’ World and BBC Wildlife, will be licensed to Exponent.

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