BBC has to move with the times

DEAR Editor, We recently announced proposals to update our BBC local services across England to better serve our audiences, and reading the letter from Mike Owen (November 10) shows just how cherished and important what we do is.

I would like to be as clear as I can be on what we are proposing. We would maintain all 39 local radio stations. There would still be dedicated local programming from all of our radio stations between 6am and 2pm on weekdays when audiences are at their largest. And then in the afternoon, some stations would share programming across two or three neighbouring stations.

Our news bulletins and live sport would remain as local as they are today; and we will continue to provide content for audiences up and down the country, no matter which community they live in or background they come from.

BBC Local Radio remains a vital service for millions of listeners – the best local radio network in the world – but it’s also essential we make difficult choices so we can reach many people that increasingly rely on their mobiles for local content.

Our proposals to strengthen local online services reflect the changing habits of our audiences as they increasingly turn to mobile services for news and content. I truly believe that we can deliver trusted local online news services that serve all local communities while keeping our local broadcast services strong.

According to Ofcom, those aged 65-74 cite online as a more common source of news than radio. Despite our listeners’ changing behaviour, we currently spend about 90% of our local investment in England on regional TV news and local radio. So, while maintaining overall investment in local services we have proposed reducing our spend on these broadcast services by about 10% to reprioritise around £19m towards local online services and stronger original journalism.

These proposals will improve daily online news services in 43 local areas – delivering a trusted week-round service to communities countrywide. We also plan to deliver a wider range of local audio programming through BBC Sounds.

Standing still now, at a time of such audience change, is not an option. Doing so would see the BBC’s public impact locally slowly erode as audiences turn to digital services. Innovation and forward-thinking has always been a part of BBC Local services across Radio, TV and Online; that can’t stop now.

We owe all audiences, across England, the highest quality local services, delivered in the most accessible way for them. That is the purpose of these proposals.