BBC slashes 100 jobs, closes two channels

LONDON: The BBC announced more than 100 job cuts and the closure of two channels on Tuesday as the cash-strapped UK broadcaster seeks to save £500 million (US$668 million) over the next two years.

BBC News announced the "net closure of just over 100 roles", according to an internal note by director Rachel Jupp, as part of some 2,000 job cuts the wider organisation is considering to achieve its planned savings.

The job cuts represent £5.5 million in savings, Jupp said in the note sent to AFP.

She was appointed BBC News director this month after her predecessor stepped down amid a row over a misleading edit of US President Donald Trump in a BBC documentary last year.

The BBC also said it would end broadcasts on BBC Scotland and BBC Three, a youth-oriented channel, with both remaining available on its online iPlayer streaming platform.

It also announced the closure of Radio 4 Extra, with its mainly archive-based programmes to be made available on BBC Sounds, an audio-streaming platform.

"We need to make every pound work harder for audiences as we respond to the immediate cost pressures and reinvent the BBC for a changing world. We all know that means tough choices," BBC director-general Matt Brittin said in a note to staff.

"Much of the great content they currently carry will still be found where audiences already enjoy it on iPlayer and Sounds," added the former Google executive, who took the helm of the BBC earlier this year.

Scottish Culture Minister Mairi McAllan said moving BBC Scotland online was "wholly unacceptable".

In June, the BBC announced plans to cut another 550 roles in its news, nations and content teams by the end of this financial year to deliver £160 million in savings.

The cuts come amid severe cost pressures after income from a licence fee that largely funds the corporation fell by around a quarter in real terms since 2017.

The broadcaster, which says 94 per cent of UK adults use its services monthly, has also been hit by a series of controversies and scandals in recent years that have undermined public confidence in it.

"The way people consume news is changing rapidly, and too many audiences, particularly younger audiences, are not finding us," Jupp said in her message.

Jupp added that BBC News could be required to make greater savings than anticipated: "Given the BBC's financial pressures, the savings requirement for News could increase."

Earlier this year, the BBC said it planned to save £500 million from its roughly £5 billion annual budget over the next three years by cutting up to 2,000 jobs, in its biggest round of redundancies since 2011.