BBC to announce massive overhaul of services
The BBC will reportedly announce plans to close digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network, cut spending on US imports and shrink its online offering next month.
Mark Thompson, the BBC director general, is expected to announce an complete overhaul of the corporation’s services, while admitting that the BBC has become too big and needs to cut down in order to give commercial rivals a chance to thrive.
According to a report in The Times today, the BBC will close 6 Music and Asian Network, introduce a cap on sports rights spending of 8.5% of the licence fee or around £300 million, and cut BBC Switch and Blast!.
The review, which was drawn up by the BBC’s director of policy and strategy John Tate, a former head of the Conservative policy unit who helped develop the party’s manifesto in 2005, is currently being considered by the BBC Trust and is due to be made public in March.
The new proposals follow ongoing criticism by the Tory party suggesting that the BBC has a negative impact on the commercial market, an issue which was also the basis for James Murdoch’s attack on the corporation at last year’s MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
Last month, Jeremy Hunt, the shadow secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, promised to enforce stricter boundaries on the corporation’s online activities if the Tories win at the forthcoming election. “The BBC’s online presence should be within defined boundaries that relate closely to its broadcast output. We’ll have discussions with the BBC when it’s negotiating the next licence fee in 2012,” he said.
Hunt’s claims largely follow the themes set out in Murdoch Junior’s MacTaggart Lecture last summer. News Corporation’s chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia used his spotlight at the festival to damn Britain’s flagship public service broadcaster.
James Murdoch insisted that the BBC should be starved of funds to lose weight, he was also quick to attack the BBC’s online offering, saying that BBC’s digital news service needs to “be dealt with” as it is, in his eyes, causing huge problems for commercial news.
Hunt seemed to agree with Murdoch. Just over a month later, he suggested the Conservatives would “rip up” the BBC’s royal charter and licence fee agreement. It was around then that The Sun, the biggest-selling national newspaper in the UK, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, withdrew its support for Labour and started backing the Conservative party.
Reports suggest that the BBC’s latest review is an attempt to show the Conservatives that the corporation understands the effect the advertising recession has had on the commercial market and it will make changes to support rival broadcasters, without needing outside intervention.
The proposals, which will also see £600 million redirected into higher-quality content, appear to be based on the assumption that the licence fee will be frozen in 2013. As such, all of the changes will be funded by closures and cutbacks in other BBC services.
Thompson is expected to boost the BBC Two budget by £25 million, which will be funded by a 25% reduction in the BBC’s £100 million budget for imports such as Mad Men and Heroes.
The BBC’s web pages will also be halved under the changes, which will see a 25% cut back in staff numbers. It’s £122 million online budget will also be cut by £25%.
The review is also thought to include plans to link newspaper articles to rival publishers to drive traffic elsewhere. In a bid to appease local newspaper groups, the BBC will also pledge not to produce services at a more local level than it currently does.
BBC Worldwide, meanwhile, will be made to focus its activities overseas and dispose of its British magazine operation, which publishes titles such as the Radio Times.
Under the proposals, the BBC will also allow commercial radio stations the chance to be the main provider of popular music to listeners aged between 30 and 50 years old.