[Stooky Bill]

Among the great insights in this podcast interview with BBC Transmission Director Stephen Neal is confirmation that there is now a commercial free feed. Previously (as in before the past couple of years) the Beeb were using masking to cover up sponsorship, but the amount has increased so an alternate version is available for those who need to use it. It also avoids the BBC having to leave the end credits early.

escinsight.com 

Yes they get a commercial-free version, but just the one feed of it, the others are the main version. So they still have to have a way to blank the sponsorship ready in case that needs to be used