BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corp., was hurt by the collapse of British retailer Woolworths, but its annual net profit still totalled £40.8 million ($76.8 million) for the year ended March 31.

That is half the profit it earned in the 2007-08 fiscal year and comes despite a 9.5 per cent rise in revenue.

BBC Worldwide said it lost £15 million ($27.8 million) on a joint venture in DVD publishing it held with collapsed retailer Woolworths. It lost £9.1 million ($16.7 million) when British regulators vetoed its involvement in an online video venture with Channel 4 and another broadcaster. It also reported a downturn in ad revenue.

BBC Worldwide markets BBC programs such as Doctor Who and Dancing with the Stars internationally, creates DVD and other products out of BBC programming and owns travel publisher Lonely Planet.

It brought in revenue of more than £1 billion ($1.8 billion) in the 2008-09 fiscal year, the highest in its history.

BBC Worldwide made more than half of its revenue from international markets and has a target of generating two-thirds of revenue from overseas by 2012.

Profits from BBC Worldwide are reinvested in programming on the public broadcaster.

BBC Worldwide faces major changes over the next 12 months because of a proposal to merge with failing broadcaster Channel 4.

British regulator Ofcom has proposed the merger to save Channel 4, a publicly owned broadcaster that carries commercials but risks going under because it can no longer attract the sustained ad revenue needed to create its programming.

The U.K. government has stepped up negotiations over the last three weeks over the merger, which could lead to increased licence fees for the British public, according to Dow Jones.

BBC also announced Tuesday that it would suspend bonuses for its 10 senior executives indefinitely because of public sensitivity over the issue of executive compensation.

It is planning a review of executive pay. Its annual report, issued today, reveals the annual pay of its executive officers and top stars.

The BBC faces a decline in its public allocation because of a demand from private broadcaster ITV to be compensated for creating regional programming. Canadian broadcasters, both public and private, recently received an increase in their subsidy for creating regional programming.

With files from The Associated Press