BBC Worldwide that Channel 4 merge with either the commercial network Five or BBC Worldwide. Channel 4's preferred option of a partnership with the latter was confirmed by chief executive Andy Duncan, who added: "We're in discussions with BBC Worldwide at the moment and they're really very exciting." In the same year, the company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of the companies growth and success. In 2012, the company began to reorganise their divisions from a product based system to a location-based system, resulting in Jana Bennett leaving the company. BBC Worldwide sold Lonely Planet in 2013 to
BBC Studios income received through the licence fee. In exchange, the BBC agreed to tender its current programming to allow third-party independent studios to produce them on behalf of the BBC. The formal establishment of BBC Studios as a commercial entity occurred in April 2017. In April 2018, BBC Worldwide was merged into the company, to make it both a distributor and producer of programmes, in line with other major multinational studio conglomerates. BBC News and BBC Radio remain separate internal production divisions in the BBC (although BBC Radio Comedy is part of Studios), and the rest of the former BBC Television