The clock is ticking. The BBC has just a few days to decide whether to take on perhaps the biggest gamble of its 100-year history.
It’s the stuff worthy of a TV drama - the most bombastic US President ever threatening to bring down a (once) great British institution unless they cough up a billion dollars.
The only problem? It’s the Beeb itself starring in its own TV must-watch. And the consequences could be devastating.
Settle out of court with President Trump for the Panorama scandal - or take a £760million punt fighting him in front of a judge.
Sources close to the Trump legal team have told GB News that the US President would probably accept around $15million (£11million) as an apology for the row that’s rocked the corporation. The Beeb has until Friday to make such an offer.
So far, the BBC's legal counsel has yet to even acknowledge Trump's legal letter, which was fired across the Atlantic on Sunday evening.
Word on the grapevine suggests they are mulling their options in the belief they think the president doesn't have a leg to stand on.
|GB News can reveal BBC legal eagles believe President Trump wasn’t meaningfully damaged by Panorama’s editing of his January 6 speech.
Yes, they made a mistake. But his reputation, they argue, had already been damaged by the events of that fateful day. And remember, any defamation case worth pursuing would have to prove that a victim’s reputation was damaged in the eyes of the public.
Declining to settle and opting to fight in court would prove one of the boldest and bravest decisions in the BBC’s 103-year history.
The BBC has 72 hours to decide whether to take on the biggest gamble in its 100-year history - Ben Leo
|Getty Images
So, what will the scandal-rocked Beeb decide to do? Say sorry and pay up - drawing a line under the matter, which has already seen the resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness?
Or ready itself for a lengthy, time-consuming and most importantly costly war in the courts with probably the most litigious presidents ever? If they lose, they’ll not only be forced to pay President Trump's $1billion bounty but also be liable for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars extra covering his legal costs.
Just think how many licence fees that would pay for. The Beeb has already cut thousands of hours in programming in recent years in a bid to save £500million annually between 2022 and 2024.
Losing to President Trump in court would potentially change the very face of the BBC as we know it today. A flurry of more devastating cuts, the axing of shows and the shedding of thousands of staff.
Whatever happens, it’ll be ordinary British people who ultimately pay for the BBC’s Panorama gaffe.
Whether it’s an out-of-court settlement or a bigger £700million war chest (and more) fighting Trump in court, it’ll be licence fee-payer money paying Trump for the Beeb’s mistake.
And with President Trump fondly known as a lover of our great nation, I posed this headache to his lawyer, Alejandro Brito, on The Late Show Live last night.
Mr Brito said: “The President is clearly not seeking to sting or damage the consumers or public as a whole. In fact his decision to take legal action and to enforce his rights is not simply for his benefit, but for the community as a whole.
Because if the BBC and other institutions can engage in this sort of conduct and damage his reputation, and engage in such nefarious conduct, it can happen to anyone.”
The defamation case will be held in a Florida court, where the statute of limitations is two years. It’s impossible that the case can be brought in the United Kingdom because the time limit for defamation cases is only one year, and the Panorama programme was shown 13 months ago in October 2024.
This unmissable bombshell drama is only in its first season. It’s up to the BBC board to now decide whether to pull the plug and settle with Trump this Friday - or commit to many more episodes that would most certainly put the future of the corporation at risk.
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