The Met Office has lost the contract it has held for close to a century to provide weather forecasts to the BBC, bringing to an end one of the longest relationships in British media. The broadcaster said it was legally required to open up the contract to outside competition in order to secure the best value for licence fee payers.

The meteorological service said it was disappointed by the BBC’s decision to put out to tender the contract, which has been in place since the corporation’s first radio weather bulletin on 14 November 1922. Steve Noyes, operations and customer services director at the Met Office, said: “Nobody knows Britain’s weather better and, during our long relationship with the BBC, we’ve revolutionised weather communication to make it an integral part of British daily life.



“This is disappointing news, but we will be working to make sure that vital Met Office advice continues to be a part of BBC output. Ranked number one in the world for forecast accuracy, people trust our forecasts and warnings.”

It is understood that the BBC’s on-screen presenting team – some of whom are employed by the broadcaster, others by the Met Office - is unlikely to change, regardless of who wins the contract.

A new provider is expected to take over in the next year. Dutch and New Zealand firms are said to be in the running for the contract, which is believed to make up a sizeable share of the £32.5m the Met Office receives annually from commercial organisations, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen told the newspaper: “Everybody understands the BBC has to cut costs. But the public will need to be convinced the new forecaster can accurately predict the fickleness of the British weather, especially if it’s a foreign provider.”

Ben Bradshaw, a former culture secretary and former BBC journalist, called for government intervention in a number of tweets.

1/Extremely alarmed by rumours BBC to drop UK Met Office in favour of foreign weather forecaster. Vital 90 year old strategic relationship. — Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) August 21, 2015

2/Not only weather forecasting. Shipping forecast, extreme weather/crisis events/national defence. Madness if true. Govt must intervene — Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) August 21, 2015

The Met Office last year announced plans to spend £97m on a new supercomputer. The service has faced criticism in recent years, most notably the “barbecue summer’’ forecast in 2009 that preceded a washout and led to the organisation ending its long-term outlooks.

BBC weather presenters have long been targets for criticism. In 2010, Tomasz Schafernaker stuck his middle finger up at BBC newsreader Simon McCoy live on air. Speaking to camera in the BBC newsroom, McCoy said: “Now we will have the weather forecast in a minute and of course it will be 100% accurate and provide all the detail you can possibly want. I’ve just seen Tom Schafernaker preparing for it.” The camera then cut to the weather presenter who, apparently unaware that he was on air, made the gesture. Realising his mistake, he raised his hand to his face in a bid to hide it, before the camera cut back to McCoy, who said: “There’s always one mistake. That was it.”

On one occasion, BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, fronting a report suggesting that temperatures were to hit a high of 99C, said the beneficiary of the balmy weather would be a place called “Town name”.

In one of the most famous examples, Michael Fish sought to calm fears that a severe storm was brewing in 1987, 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.

A BBC spokesman said: “Our viewers get the highest standard of weather service, and that won’t change. We are legally required to go through an open-tender process and take forward the strongest bids to make sure we secure both the best possible service and value for money for the licence fee payer.” The spokesman added that the Met Office’s severe weather warnings would continue to be used by the corporation.