The BBC is to terminate its contact with the Met Office.

I am shocked!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34031785 

What will this do for the quality of the BBC forecasts if they use another agency?

Blimey, I thought all that talk was just a ruse to get the Met Office to lower their prices.

I guess there's not much point in watching BBC forecasts when the contract ends, as whoever replaces them (WSI or similar, no doubt) will just be using GFS data...

(There's a small chance of an operator coming in using ECM data, I suppose, but the Met Office has the best available via MOGREPS etc).

I am actually not that surprised. The government has imposed some very tough spending limits on the BBC and so they are looking to save money wherever they can. 

In my view the Met Office produce the best forecasts so I am very sceptical of the comments from the BBC that they will maintain the level of quality. Forecasts on every other TV channel in the UK are mostly woeful and not worth watching. So I fear a significant dumbing down of the forecasts as a result of this decision.

We should wait and see what the new offering is though before we completely write of BBC forecasts.

I did expect to be greeted by a "you have been trolled" message when I checked out the link. As ever, I don't fully understand the politics behind it all, nor do I know what effect it'll have on TV forecasting, but I think ITV had been tendering contracts for years and it never affected the quality of their live forecasts . . . Oh, wait.
 It'll be like saying goodbye to that favourite cosy armchair as that get replaced by a new ergonomic version made of plastic that will never be as comfortable as the original.

This damnable govt!

Everything that is any good about this country is sold off or faces death by a thousand cuts. Who is going to provide us with the best weather forecasts? Some bloke with a website? Some company using data collect by us, at our taxpaying expense, for their own profit? Or our own national weather service, one of the finest in the world and the obvious choice? Obviously (one hopes) not the first, probably the second it should be the third.

Expect downpours, whirlwinds, pretty but vacuous arm wavers, sponsorship, pollen forecasts.

Madness.

Nope, forced upon them by the govt.

Probably the contract will go to someone like *****Corbyn to try to improve accuracy 

http://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2015/08/23/met-office-in-the-news-bbc-weather-contract/

Statement from the MetO this morning.

In this mad age we live in he would be 'value' for money.

I didn't know Brian had got the new contract

...... It will be interesting to hear his view on this.

From my POV I think it's dreadful news

In my defence I was actually thinking of the bloke from the express...

I'm unsurprised by this. As anyone who uses the same supplier for a number of years will realize, e.g. insurance or any other service, they treat you as a gravy train and keep upping the price on renewal. The only way to get a good deal is to shift to a supplier who is anxious  to get some new business. The MetO have had a good run with the BBC and I suspect it felt it had a cosy monopoly. I think the BBC is right to shake it up a bit. There are other vendors out there.

... Or... In my line of work.. You listen to the customer who threatens to leave after a year and look for another supplier based on price... You then either freeze the prices or go crying to your boss asking if we can give them a better deal! :P

If the Met Office continued to up their prices without any due consideration to the pressure the BBC were under to cut costs, then blame should lie in both camps.

Either way, it's unfortunate.

There are many other agencies who are quite competent in taking over from where the MetO left off, it's to the end of weather forecasting as we know it Jim.

Although I've no idea if the specifics of this case apply, you are quite right overall, and companies have a legal obligation to tender. They then have an obligation to their customers to get the best deal. 

Peter has let his emotions cloud his judgement as usual, but it's a funny rant anyway. 

The BBC is reporting that companies from the Netherlands and New Zealand (and probably others) are in the running for the new contract.

Nice try Matty

I think the credibility of the Met office by Joe Public has never been very high since the Michael Fish hurricane that wasn't debacle and the loss of the contract by the BBC won't be seen as that significant to many. In fact the public's reputation of them will probably fall further as people will think the end of contract is due to poor forecasting and not money. The problem is the company that supersedes the Met office will have to show greater capabilities and even greater accuracy as Jow Public will soon judge them on merits of forecasting accuracy too.

For me personally I'm not that bothered as I use the broadcasts less and less each day relying as many others on the wealth of info available on the web in making my own assumptions and forecasts.. It does seem like the end of a lifetime era though losing the Met from the Beeb.