BBC shows face the axe as cash dries up
POPULAR programmes and presenters face the axe as the BBC struggles for money.
In a barely disguised attack yesterday, directorgeneral Lord Hall said the Chancellor’s July Budget had left the corporation facing “some very difficult choices ahead” and some services would have to be slashed.
In a bleak prediction for the future of the broadcaster, Lord Hall warned it would have to radically reinvent itself as cash dries up.
His downbeat comments came as the BBC battles with the Government over the details of its charter, up for renewal in 2017.
The corporation has already agreed to shoulder the cost of free television licences for those aged over 75. It will cost an estimated £ 750million by 2020, almost a fifth of the corporation’s current annual income.
Lord Hall, 64, said it meant the BBC would have to save 20 per cent of its income over the next five years at a time when its share of TV revenues was likely to fall.
He said: “The BBC faces a very tough financial challenge. So we will have to manage our resources ever more carefully and prioritise what we believe the BBC should offer. We will inevita- bly have to either close or reduce some services.
“We will have to change the way we work. We all want a simpler, more effective organisation where as much money as possible goes on programmes and services.”
His comments come after Culture Secretary John Whittingdale questioned whether the corporation should be “all things to all people” or have a more “precisely targeted” mission.
In details announced yesterday the BBC suggested “some existing services” might no longer be needed.
Proposals on how savings will be made and which services might be scrapped will be announced in the coming months, but it is certain some programmes will be jettisoned.
Lord Hall promised an “open BBC” which collaborates with rival media and the public and serves as a “catalyst for this country’s incredible talent”.
He said: “It has occasionally been suggested the BBC should stop being a mainstream entertainer because the market can provide mainstream entertainment.
“But is anyone seriously going to propose to licence fee payers their fee should only go to the niche programmes and services, that we should stop doing all the things they love most?
“What makes the BBC work is precisely the combination of popular programming with the depth and range only a public service broadcaster can guarantee.”
Proposals for a new “open BBC” include plans for a multi- million pound partnership with local news groups to provide a network of 100 “public service reporters”.
Bosses also want to create a new on- demand children’s service called iPlay and an “ideas service” linking BBC programmes with material from partners including the British Museum and Royal Shakespeare Company.
Lord Hall said: “An open BBC is a million miles away from an expansionist ambition. Indeed, it is the polar opposite.”