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BBC set to announce budget cuts BBC set to cut 2,000 jobs by 2017
(about 11 hours later)
The BBC is to announce how it proposes to make budget cuts of 20% as a result of the freeze to the licence fee. The BBC is planning to cut 2,000 jobs and reshape its TV schedules in order to cut 20% from its budget over the next five years.
The proposals are expected to mean changes to BBC output and job losses across the corporation. No channels will close but some money will be reinvested in new programmes.
Director general Mark Thompson will outline the results of a nine-month staff consultation - branded Delivering Quality First (DQF) - on Thursday. All new daytime programming will shift to BBC One, with BBC Two showcasing repeats of peak-time programmes.
Launching the DQF process in January, the director general said "tough decisions" would be required. Director General Mark Thompson unveiled details of the cuts - branded Delivering Quality First (DQF) - in an address to staff on Thursday morning.
BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten will also explain on Thursday how the trust will consult licence fee payers on the plans. The public will have until the end of the year to respond. Thompson said the changes would lead to "a smaller, radically reshaped BBC".
Newspapers have been awash with speculation, with suggestions that original daytime TV output will be axed and that local radio stations will have to share more programming. The BBC says this will be the most far-reaching transformation in its history, changing how - and where - it operates.
The BBC has refused to comment on these reports. It's cutting its budget by £670 million a year. Most savings will come from improved productivity - 2,000 jobs will go, including more than 300 senior management posts.
No services will be cut, but there'll be more repeats, on BBC Two in daytime and late at night; fewer lunchtime concerts on Radio 3; and a 15 per cent cut in the budgets for sports rights.
As well as the loss of 2,000 posts across the BBC over the next five years, another 1,000 staff will relocate from London to Salford - including the decision to move BBC Three to Salford in 2016.
BBC One, which is having its overall budget cut by 3%, will see a reduction in entertainment programmes "which have a lower impact", Thompson said.
There will be fewer chat shows and panel shows on BBC Two, and digital channels BBC Three and Four will become feeder channels for BBC One and Two respectively.
Content sharing
The BBC HD channel will close and be replaced with a single version of BBC Two in high definition. Red Button services will also be reduced after the Olympics.
There will be a 15% reduction in the BBC's sports rights budget, as indicated by the announcement earlier this year to share the rights for Formula One with BSkyB.
In local radio, there will be more sharing of content across regions .
Original programming across the BBC's main networks will be reduced, such as comedy on Radio 2 and Radio 5 live, as well as fewer lunchtime concerts on Radio 3.
Separate news bulletins will end on Radio 1Xtra (outside breakfast) which will take Radio 1's news output. Radio 3 will use shorter versions of Radio 4 bulletins.
Radio 4's overall budget will remain unaffected.
There are no major changes proposed for CBBC and Cbeebies, although children's programmes will be removed from BBC One's afternoon schedule.
There will be reductions in medium wave transmissions for local radio in England where coverage replicates FM. There will also be no re-investment in Long Wave, which will lead to the end of Radio 4 on LW in the long term.
Unions reacted angrily to news of the job cuts. Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the technicians' union Bectu, said the BBC's proposals should have been called "destroying quality first".
"They are destroying jobs, and destroying the BBC," he said.
Thompson said he hoped a proportion of staff facing job losses could be "re-trained and re-deployed".
Reinvestment
Thompson has dismissed the idea of shutting down any of the BBC's core services.
"The danger of closing a service is you face losing audiences critical to the BBC," he said.
The proposals are the result of a nine-month staff consultation.
In January, Thompson said the BBC faced the challenge of finding 20% savings over the four years to April 2017.In January, Thompson said the BBC faced the challenge of finding 20% savings over the four years to April 2017.
This figure incorporates the 16% drop in revenue from the licence fee, and an attempt to claw back 4% of current expenditure to re-invest in new content and digital developments.This figure incorporates the 16% drop in revenue from the licence fee, and an attempt to claw back 4% of current expenditure to re-invest in new content and digital developments.
Outlining where the 4% was to be reinvested. Thompson said the proposals included "more money for drama and comedy for BBC One".
In addition, more funding will be made available for factual programming on BBC One and BBC Four, he added on Thursday.
Thompson said he wanted to "protect and improve" the quality of its Proms coverage.
Speaking ahead of Thompson, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten explained how the trust will consult licence fee payers on the plans. The public will have until the end of the year to respond.
Speaking about the proposals, Mr Patten said that it was "not unreasonable to expect the greatest public broadcaster to pull in its belt".
In 2010's government spending review, the BBC licence fee was frozen at £145.50 until 2016-17.In 2010's government spending review, the BBC licence fee was frozen at £145.50 until 2016-17.
That licence agreement brought with it new financial obligations, including the World Service, which is currently funded by the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office.That licence agreement brought with it new financial obligations, including the World Service, which is currently funded by the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office.
This funding comes to an end in April 2014 as the BBC World Service transfers to television licence fee funding.This funding comes to an end in April 2014 as the BBC World Service transfers to television licence fee funding.
In a Hardtalk interview last month, Lord Patten said the trust was in talks with senior executives about how they could "accommodate the BBC" to the new budget. Thompson concluded his address on Thursday warning that the BBC could not sustain a further reduction in licence fee funding, after a decade of cuts .
"But, for heaven's sake, we're talking about the BBC running for the next five years on £3.5bn a year. Plus the income it can raise from its commercial activities," he said. "I don't think we could do this again," he told staff.
"Now we should be able to run a damn good public broadcaster on three-and-a-half billion a year." "Another real terms cut in the licence fee would lead to a loss of services, or potentially a diminuition of quality, or both."
He said the BBC would focus on its "core and most valuable services" such as children, drama, news and factual programmes. Are you affected by the announcements? What is your reaction? Send us your comments using the form below.