Three BBC News Channel presenters set to go in cost cuts
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Version 0 of 1. Three BBC News Channel presenters will be among two dozen staff to lose their jobs as part of cost cuts across the corporation’s national and international news channels. The cuts are part of an attempt to find 10% savings from the BBC News Channel and BBC World News after it was decided not to merge the two services in July. An internal email sent to staff said the corporation would try to avoid compulsory redundancies. The presenter cuts will not affect those whose main role is anchoring programmes on BBC1 or BBC2. “If we do not have sufficient volunteers for redundancy, we will work very hard to find redeployment opportunities for affected staff. We aim to deliver the proposed savings by April 2017,” the email said. The changes will mean there will only be one presenter on in the afternoons on the BBC News Channel and changes to working patterns on the weekend. However, it will also switch back to live programming from 8.30pm. BBC World News will also lose two presenters and one business presenter. The remainder of the roles to go will be in areas such as production, and there will also be cuts in editorial and commissioning budgets. A BBC spokeswoman said: “We face big financial challenges and need to adapt for the digital age, so while we’re already making significant savings in the cost of running the BBC, we are also seeking savings of up to 10% of the editorial and operational budgets of the news channels, as we said when we announced the decision to maintain them both in the summer. “This will involve the closure of a small number of posts, including presenter posts, as well as revisions to schedules and production rotas, and reductions in commissioning budgets. We’re aiming to achieve post closures on a voluntary basis and we do not expect our audiences to notice significant changes to the channels’ content.” Merging the two channels was ruled out by director general Tony Hall in July, with the BBC saying it was important “to be able to go over to your TV and see what is unfolding”. A merger would also have been fraught with difficulty as BBC World, which is not broadcast in the UK, is run commercially and carries ads. In December, the Guardian reported that an earlier proposal to take the UK-based news channel online-only was shelved after the BBC came to the conclusion that it would only save in the region of £16m. |