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BBC 'to close recipes website' as part of £15m savings BBC to close recipes website as part of £15m savings
(about 2 hours later)
The BBC Food website carrying more than 11,000 recipes is to close as part of a plan to cut £15m from the corporation's online budget, a BBC source has said. The BBC Food website carrying more than 11,000 recipes is to close as part of a plan to cut £15m from the corporation's online budget.
All existing recipes are likely to be archived, though whether some could move to the commercial BBC Good Food website is still to be decided. All existing recipes will be mothballed, although the commercial BBC Good Food website will remain.
TV show recipes will be posted online but only made available for 30 days. The proposals, announced by James Harding, director of BBC news and current affairs, include closing the Newsbeat website and app.
The BBC source said online services had to be "high-quality, distinctive, and offer genuine public value". They set out savings of more than £15 million, around 15% of editorial spend.
It follows the publication of the government's White Paper on the future of the BBC last week. The announcement on Tuesday follows the publication of the government's White Paper on the future of the BBC last week.
What is the BBC White Paper about?What is the BBC White Paper about?
What is the government proposing?What is the government proposing?
James Harding, director of BBC news and current affairs, is expected to brief staff later about the future of online services and the BBC television channels. The online proposals, subject to approval, include:
A BBC source said: "What we do has to be high quality, distinctive, and offer genuine public value. • Close the iWonder service, redeploying its formats across BBC Online
"While our audiences expect us to be online, we have never sought to be all things to all people and the changes being announced will ensure that we are not." • Close the BBC's Food website. BBC Worldwide's Good Food site will remain
• Focus on distinctive long-form journalism online under a Current Affairs banner and close the online News Magazine
• Integrate Newsbeat output into BBC News Online, but close the separate Newsbeat site and app
• Continue to offer travel news online but close the Travel site and halt development of the Travel app
• Stop running local news index web pages, offering instead an open stream on our rolling guide to BBC and local news provider stories, 'Local Live'
• Remove ring-fenced funding for iPlayer-only commissions
• Reduce digital radio and music social media activity and additional programme content that is not core to services
Mr Harding said "no decision" had been made on the future of the BBC News Channel, but that the closure of the rolling channel was not an option.
Among six options on the table, to be decided on by the executive board in July, were a single news channel offering "a global agenda from London".
Dan Lepard, a chef whose recipes appear on BBC Food, said the website was an "extraordinary, world-class archive" and asked where were "our rights" to preserve such a "library".Dan Lepard, a chef whose recipes appear on BBC Food, said the website was an "extraordinary, world-class archive" and asked where were "our rights" to preserve such a "library".
"With the BBC recipes, you know they work. I can tell you that loads of recipes out there, don't work, will fail. The BBC ones work," he told BBC Radio 4's Today."With the BBC recipes, you know they work. I can tell you that loads of recipes out there, don't work, will fail. The BBC ones work," he told BBC Radio 4's Today.
Xanthe Clay, a food writer for the Daily Telegraph, said it was a "fantastic archive" of largely British recipes which come directly from chefs, and was "part of our cultural heritage".Xanthe Clay, a food writer for the Daily Telegraph, said it was a "fantastic archive" of largely British recipes which come directly from chefs, and was "part of our cultural heritage".
What's cooking?What's cooking?
The plans are not thought to affect services operated by the corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide, including BBC Good Food, which is not paid for by the licence fee and does charge for some recipes.
The BBC source said it was not right to say recipes would be "removed", however the BBC Food site would be closed and recipes would "mostly likely become archived, not removed".
It would become harder to find them as "they won't be linked or optimised. So will fall away from searches. Some may go to Good Food, some mothballed", the source added.
"Exact" decisions were still to be decided over the next 12 months, the source said.
The media and entertainment union BECTU is expecting 40 BBC jobs to come under threat as a result of the plans announced later.
Its general secretary Gerry Morrissey said: "What we're seeing is the BBC contradicting itself. One minute it's investing in online, the next cuts are being proposed.
"Sadly we only expect more of this to come as the BBC faces up to the cuts imposed by government. What's clear to us is that if the BBC audience values a service, it has to protest and seek assurances on no cuts."
'Distinctive content'
Last year, Chancellor George Osborne said the BBC website was becoming "a bit more imperial in its ambitions".Last year, Chancellor George Osborne said the BBC website was becoming "a bit more imperial in its ambitions".
"If you've got a website that's got features and cooking recipes - effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper as well as the national broadcaster."If you've got a website that's got features and cooking recipes - effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper as well as the national broadcaster.
"There are those sorts of issues we need to look at very carefully," he said."There are those sorts of issues we need to look at very carefully," he said.
Outlining the White Paper, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said the BBC must put "distinctive content" at its heart.
He announced the licence fee will continue for at least 11 years and will be linked to inflation - and viewers will need to pay it to use BBC iPlayer at the same time.
He also announced a requirement for all employees and freelancers who earn more than £450,000 to be named.