Now it’s one of BBC’s most popular TV programmes. That’s the theme tune of the Great British Bake Off. Last year’s final show was watched by 15 million people, the highest audience of any TV programme in 2015. The format has been sold to countries around the world where local versions are produced, now though it’s been confirmed that the BBC, a public service broadcaster has lost the contract to broadcast future series. I heard more from our arts correspondent Vincent Dowd.

Bake off has been a phenomenon ever since it started on air in 2010. This is the crux ofthe matter. It’s not made by the BBC. This is very much the way TV is going. It’s madeby an independent company called Love Productions. That’s the root to the problem-- the BBCbuys it. But it’s very much associated with the BBC. I think most people would say it feels a very BBC programme. However, there appears to have been a disagreement, very least about how much the BBC should pay for it at the end of this current contract. And it appears, this is not quite clear yet, but it appears that there will be no more bake offs on BBC television after the end of the series which just started last month.

Not made by the BBC but made popular by the BBC. But does it really matter that it’s not gonna be on Beeb any more?

Well, it’s part of a bigger picture, isn’t it? That public service broadcasting is being nibbled at around the edges. Finance is always limited. The equivalent for Top Gear, Grand Tour is going to be on Amazon Prime. It’s not going to be on traditional TV. Public service broadcasters in future won’t get their hands in full long the Olympics in they way they’re used to. So it’s not black and white but I think you see that the nature of broadcasting especially BBC, especially public service broadcasting is changing fairly rapidly.

Vincent Dowd.

As we record this podcast, the latest international ceasefire in Syria appears to be largelyholding. It was agreed by the US and Russia, then endorsed by the Syrian government. And it’s still not clear how the various Jihadist factions will react. The days leading up to the ceasefire were marked by an increasing bombing of rebel held cities like Aleppo.

We stand here and give a message that the Syrian state is determined to recover every areafrom the terrorists, reestablish safety and security, rebuild the infrastructure, rebuild everything.

The head of the Russian general staff’s main operations director said everything was ready on the Russian side to observe the ceasefire. But he warned there could still be attacks on certain targets.