BBC to axe 2000 jobs
The BBC will axe nearly 2,000 jobs as it looks to save £670m ($AU1.06b) a year.
- Published by David Knox
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The BBC will axe nearly 2,000 jobs as it looks to save £670m ($AU1.06b) a year.
The changes will lead to a smaller and radically reshaped BBC that will see more repeats on BBC2, fewer entertainment shows, less money spent on sports rights and a shrunken BBC3 and BBC4.
Amongst the changes are:
– BBC2’s existing daytime schedule will be scrapped, replaced by international news and current affairs at lunchtime and repeats in the afternoon.
– Both BBC3 and BBC4 will be “refocused” to play a supporting role to BBC1 and BBC2 respectively.
– Fewer entertainment programmes and overseas acquisitions.
– Sports rights budgets will be cut by 15%
– A reduction in the amount of money it spends on overseas drama and films.
– Entertainment budget to be cut.
– BBC HD channel will be closed, replaced with a high definition broadcast of BBC2.
All new first-run daytime programming will be run on BBC1, with BBC2’s daytime schedule given over to repeats of “outstanding” shows which have already run in peak.
Overnight programming on TV and radio will be reduced, while regional current affairs shows on television will be shared across a larger region.
BBC3 will be moved to the BBC’s new northern base in Salford, which will become home to at least another 1,000 jobs.
BBC director general Mark Thompson warned the changes would mean “stretching efficiencies and significant job losses. It’s my judgment that this is the last time the BBC will be able to make this level of savings without a substantial loss of services or quality or both”.
Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, said: “The BBC is far from perfect but it is a great institution and, at its best, a great broadcaster. We have a tough and challenging new licence fee settlement, but it should still be possible to run an outstanding broadcaster on £3.5bn a year.”
Source: The Guardian
15 Responses
There’s a big difference in the UK, as people have to pay a tax on owning a TV.
If they had that here, people wouldn’t have a bar of it, but it isn’t sych a bad thing.
i wonder how the british public feel about this. when the ABC began outsourcing its drama productions everyone here complained. I would have expected the british public to do the same.
They better not get rid of Bargain Hunt! I heard it was on the chopping block.
Wow, massive cuts
@Secret Squïrrel thanks for the clarification. Strange that there was a BBC HD and BBC One HD – how confusing.
No wonder DW Confidential got the axe, now I wonder what affect this will how on other shows like Top Gear which should be back around Christmas time in the UK.
Doctor Who Confidential has already been lost =(
@Stan – I was about to write the same comment!
@Sec – BBC HD is a separate channel from BBC One HD. It is digital only and runs for about nine hours a day. It has repeats of HD programs from BBC One or HD simulcasts with non-HD channels (BBC Two, Three, and Four). The channel is being closed down to free up digital bandwidth for BBC Two to switch to HD.
BBC is becoming another channel 10….
They’d better not touch Dr Who or we’ll be back to the bad old days of low-budget special effects.
Boot’s on the other foot? Now it’s BBC following the ABC ‘model.’
The Murdochs will be happy.
That’s pretty terrible, especially shutting down BBC HD – hooray for going back to blurryvision. I hope this doesn’t affect Luther, Sherlock, Doctor Who etc. too much.
Just announced Lachlan Murdoch has now become interim CEO of BBC
Eeek. This is worrying. But imagine what the ABC or SBS could do with that sort of money. I mean the fed gov expects change from the tenna it gives SBS each year!