The BBC has drawn up a shortlist of three bidders for its £2bn technology arm.

German engineering giant Siemens, management consultants Accenture - formerly Andersen Consulting - and American consultancy service Computer Sciences Corporation have made the final running from a second stage shortlist of eight bidders announced in April, the corporation said today.

Technology giants IBM, Hewlett Packard and Fujitsu failed to make the final three.

The BBC is selling the subsidiary, which provides technology services to its own channels as well as other broadcasters including BSkyB, DirecTV, ESPN Inc and video mobile firm Hutchinson, in a bid to cut costs by between £20m-£30m.

Under the terms of the sale, which is subject to EU procurement procedures and approval from the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, the winning bidder will have to take on the majority of BBC Technology's 1,400 employees.

The BBC, which is essentially looking for a technology partner to help its continued modernisation drive, said it had been "impressed" by the quality of the bids.

"The shortlisted bidders have shown their ability to invest in technology innovation and enable us to revolutionise the way we make programmes over the next 10 years," said the BBC's chief technology officer, John Varney.

"They have also shown a cultural alignment with the BBC that is one of the most important parts of this contract," he added.

Founded in March 2001, BBC Technology was identified as a possible sales target by the former director general, Greg Dyke. Last year it turned over around £230m

He announced plans for the sale last November after undertaking a root and branch review of the corporation's technology needs over the next 10 years.

"When we were given our current funding agreement in the year 2000 by Chris Smith, the then secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, he made it a condition that we raised an additional £1bn over the next seven years," Mr Dyke said.

"He suggested one way of contributing to that was to sell a BBC asset. This is what is now planned. By taking our technical support contract to the market and selling BBC Technology we can achieve significant savings over a sustained period of time."

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