Former weather presenter at corporation believes ending of contract was likely to happen anyway as pressure increases to cut costs

John Kettley, a former BBC weather presenter, says the Met Office lost its weather forecasting contract with the corporation because it wanted too much money.

Kettley, a weather forecaster in the 1980s, said that with the corporation having to cut costs as part of the licence fee settlement, there was an air of inevitability that the contract would be put out to tender.

“There is no doubt about this, the Met Office will be gutted by this decision, it is a big loss in their revenue,” he said, speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Monday. “One of the big problems over the years has been they have wanted more and more each time the contract has come up for renewal. At the same time the BBC has been squeezed by the government and who knows what is going to happen to the TV licence [fee]. In a way it was an impasse and it was perhaps something that was likely to happen anyway”.

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The Met Office, which has held the contract since the corporation’s first radio weather bulletin in 1922, will continue to provide the BBC with severe weather warnings.

The BBC will put the main contract out to tender with Dutch and New Zealand firms thought to be likely contenders.

“Other people can do forecasts,” said Kettley, who worked at the BBC for the Met Office for 30 years before leaving in 2000 to go it alone. “I have my own consultancy. I forecast for different people. Other people are out there who can do similar jobs. Whether they can do it as well as the Met Office on TV and radio and the enormous commitment that is, I’m not too sure at the moment.”

Kettley, made famous by the 1988 novelty record “John Kettley is a Weatherman”, said the BBC has to “get as much value as they can” from suppliers.

“Our viewers get the highest standard of weather service and that won’t change,” said a BBC spokeswoman. “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 BBC pointed out that the graphics used during weather forecast bulletins are already supplied by another provider.

The corporation has no plans for any major changes to its on-air presenting team as a result of the change in contracted supplier.

A new weather forecasting company is expected to be appointed later this year.