BBC plans to close BBC Four & CBBC linear services in “digital first” strategy

The BBC has today set out the blueprint to build a digital-first public service media organisation.

In a speech to staff this afternoon, Director-General Tim Davie said the BBC must reform to stay relevant and continue to provide great value for all.

This first phase represents £500m of annual savings and reinvestment to make the BBC digital-led.

As part of this, £200m will contribute to the £285m annual funding gap by 2027/28, created by the licence fee settlement earlier this year. The remaining funding gap will be covered in the final three years of this Charter period, which is consistent with previous savings programmes.

Director-General Tim Davie told staff: “When I took this job I said that we needed to fight for something important: public service content and services, freely available universally, for the good of all.

“This fight is intensifying, the stakes are high.”

Examples of future changes announced today include:

– The creation of a single, 24-hour TV news channel serving UK and international audiences, called BBC News, offering greater amounts of shared content, but maintaining the ability to offer separate broadcasts depending on what’s happening at home and abroad;
– Plans to stop broadcasting smaller linear channels, such as CBBC and BBC Four and Radio 4 Extra, after the next few years;
– Ongoing work to strip out any unnecessary bureaucracy, reduce running costs and simplify ways of working to free up time;
– Plans to stop scheduling separate content for Radio 4 Long Wave, consulting with partners, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, ahead of the closure of the Long Wave platform itself;
– Shifting a number of World Service languages to be digital only;
– An ambition to reach 75% of BBC viewers through iPlayer each week;
– Reviewing commercial options for audio production;
– New on-demand content and formats for news and current affairs;
– Requesting Ofcom to remove regulatory restrictions on iPlayer to expand boxsets and archive content;
– Bigger investment in programming from the nations and regions across the UK;
– Investment in an enhanced news and current affairs offer for iPlayer and Sounds, with new video formats, simulcasts and podcasts;
– Changes in local radio and regional news to ensure high-quality, distinctive BBC local journalism is available every day when and where audiences want it;
– Plans to accelerate digital growth in audio and drive listeners to BBC Sounds, simplifying schedules and cancelling shows that do not deliver;
– Further investment in data to ensure comprehensive, real-time data that supports growth of digital products and services.

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