BBC to ax 10% staff as spending cuts take hold
Source: Agencies |
October 7, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE British Broadcasting Corp is set to cut over 10 percent of staff in its management, programming and news divisions after Britain's cash-strapped government imposed deep spending cuts on the world-renowned, publicly-funded broadcaster.
The corporation set out the changes yesterday in response to a 20 percent cut to its annual 3.5 billion pound (US$5.4 billion) budget imposed by the government a year ago as part of the deepest public spending cuts in decades.
Unions said the changes would damage independent journalism at a time when a phone hacking scandal has revealed embarrassingly close ties between the Prime Minister David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch's right-leaning News Corp, a long-standing critic of the BBC.
The BBC budget was imposed by the government with very little negotiation. Around 600 BBC News posts will now go. "By 2016, the BBC will be significantly smaller than it is today," it said.
With eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive website, the BBC's size and resources had already attracted envy and criticism from rivals, led by the dominant pay-TV group BSkyB.
Under the new plans, the corporation will cut 2,000 jobs, reduce the budget for buying sports and other rights, slash the number of senior managers and share more content.
More repeats will be shown on television and property in west London will also be sold. The changes will result in savings of around 670 million pounds a year by 2016/17.
"The realities of what this country looks like in 2011 and what households up and down the country are going through, what other public institutions are going through, (means) it would be a bit odd if the national broadcaster wasn't feeling some of the same pressures," Director General Mark Thompson said.
The corporation set out the changes yesterday in response to a 20 percent cut to its annual 3.5 billion pound (US$5.4 billion) budget imposed by the government a year ago as part of the deepest public spending cuts in decades.
Unions said the changes would damage independent journalism at a time when a phone hacking scandal has revealed embarrassingly close ties between the Prime Minister David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch's right-leaning News Corp, a long-standing critic of the BBC.
The BBC budget was imposed by the government with very little negotiation. Around 600 BBC News posts will now go. "By 2016, the BBC will be significantly smaller than it is today," it said.
With eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive website, the BBC's size and resources had already attracted envy and criticism from rivals, led by the dominant pay-TV group BSkyB.
Under the new plans, the corporation will cut 2,000 jobs, reduce the budget for buying sports and other rights, slash the number of senior managers and share more content.
More repeats will be shown on television and property in west London will also be sold. The changes will result in savings of around 670 million pounds a year by 2016/17.
"The realities of what this country looks like in 2011 and what households up and down the country are going through, what other public institutions are going through, (means) it would be a bit odd if the national broadcaster wasn't feeling some of the same pressures," Director General Mark Thompson said.
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