Bal Samra, Director, Vision Operations/Director, Rights & Business Affairs BBC

• Bal Samra is responsible for all Rights & Business Affairs contracts relating to programmes and on-screen talent across the whole of the BBC, including deals with rights holders and independent producers.
• Bal is also responsible for all operational matters within BBC Vision.
• His specific responsibilities in this area include setting business strategy, planning channel and genre spend and managing business, legal affairs, operations and finance across Vision.
• Bal is a member of the BBC Direction Group and the Vision Board.

Salary: £280,500
Total remuneration: £288,300

Last updated January 2010

Bal Samra was appointed Director, BBC Rights & Business Affairs / Director, Vision Operations in November 2006 and operates a dual role within the BBC.

He oversees a team of more than 1,000 staff across the business.

Bal Samra sits on the BBC's management board.

His responsibilities cover two integrated areas:

• As Director, Rights & Business Affairs across the BBC he manages the external business relationships with all organisations which represent companies and individuals engaging with the BBC in producing the content for its services
• As Director, Operations within BBC Vision he manages the operational side of the Vision group, within both the commissioning and producing arms

Bal's Rights & Business Affairs team negotiate all deals for programmes produced by independent production companies; shows acquired from US networks; individual talent deals for artists, contributors, actors, presenters and writers; and negotiate with distributors for the exploitation of BBC's rights.

The teams under Bal within BBC Vision are responsible for managing business strategy, planning channel and genre spend, managing the operational side of the commissioning function, production management and modernisation in the programme-making areas and finance.

Bal's role includes overseeing and implementing strategies for managing intellectual property. This is an integral element of a fast-moving media landscape in which the acquisition, creation, negotiation and exploitation of rights is at the heart of BBC's business practice.

Most recently Bal sponsored the implementation of a strategy to re-shape the network production supply base across the BBC. This will lead to a significant increase in production outside of London, including the Nations. It is a key element of the BBC's Charter renewal commitments to ensure that the production of TV programmes is closer to the audience it serves and boosts jobs and creative industries around the UK.

Bal Samra has been instrumental in developing and establishing the Window of Creative Competition (WOCC) – one of the major industry-level initiatives designed to sustain a healthy competitive market place. He led the necessary changes required within the BBC to establish the WOCC system, opening up 25% of the BBC's annual spend in Television for direct competition between in-house and independent programme-makers.

He has played a central role in a number of consumer launches including BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC News 24 (now the BBC News Channel) and BBC News Online.

He has led negotiations for the BBC with rights holders allowing ground-breaking changes in business terms – for example, new media rights which enabled the BBC to offer viewers programmes on-demand across all platforms through the BBC iPlayer.

Prior to joining the BBC, Bal Samra worked in both commercial and finance roles at GEC and Unilever.

Expenses are costs incurred by BBC staff on behalf of the BBC and claimed through the BBC's expenses system (e-expenses). Central bookings are costs incurred on behalf of the BBC and booked through the BBC's central bookings system. Both expenses and central bookings are published every three months.

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• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q3 2011-12 PDF (191KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q3 2011-12 PDF (104KB)
• Bal Samra had no e-expenses paid in Q2 2011-12
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q2 2011-12 PDF (216KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q1 2011-12 PDF (70KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q1 2011-12 PDF (80KB)
• Bal Samra had no e-expenses paid in Q4 2010-11
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q4 2010-11 PDF (48KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q3 2010-11 PDF (87KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q3 2010-11 PDF (70KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q2 2010-11 PDF (140KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q2 2010-11 PDF (44KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q1 2010-11 PDF (32KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q1 2010-11 PDF (50KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q4 2009-10 PDF (39KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q4 2009-10 PDF (112KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q3 2009-10 PDF (41KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q3 2009-10 PDF (165KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q2 2009-10 PDF (58KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q2 2009-10 PDF (66KB)
• Bal Samra's e-expenses Q1 2009-10 PDF (23KB)
• Bal Samra's central bookings Q1 2009-10 PDF (53KB)

Gifts and hospitality may only be accepted in line with BBC policy. Information about gifts and hospitality is published every three months.

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• Bal Samra's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q3 2011-12 PDF (34KB)
• Bal Samra had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2011-12
• Bal Samra's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q1 2011-12 PDF (29KB)
• Bal Samra had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q4 2010-11
• Bal Samra had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q3 2010-11
• Bal Samra had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q2 2010-11
• Bal Samra had no gifts or hospitality to declare in Q1 2010-11
• Bal Samra's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q4 2009-10 (32KB)
• Bal Samra's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q3 2009-10 (31KB)
• Bal Samra's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q2 2009-10 (32KB)
• Bal Samra's Gifts and Hospitality Register Q1 2009-10 (30KB)

Staff must make a declaration of their personal and business interests, including any memberships or directorships of public or industry bodies, and any shareholdings, as well as any interests that their immediate families may also have.

A summary is published where there is something to declare and where there is nothing to declare. Occasionally an individual will have something to declare but due to the personal nature of the declaration we do not publish details as to do so would breach the Data Protection Act.

This information is published annually, although if any amendments are made during the year an updated summary will be published if necessary as soon as it is available.

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• Bal Samra's Declaration of Personal Interests 2011 PDF (30KB)