BBC To Raise £3.29 Billion From Self Help Initiative

The BBC is believed to be attempting to raise £3.29 billion from a ‘self help initiative’ involving cost-savings, increased commercial revenues and improved licence fee collection.

Director general, Greg Dyke, said the Corporation was beating targets set three years ago to cut its overheads, according to a report in today’s Financial Times.

It is understood that the initiative, which exceeds Government targets for £1.1 billion of cost savings, has cleared the way for a significant increase in the programme budget. The BBC reportedly plans to spend an extra £795 million on programmes, digital channels and regional productions in the current financial year.

The increased spend will put further pressure on the BBC’s commercial rivals, which are struggling at the hands of the ongoing advertising downturn. Last week news emerged that ITV’s share of the advertising market could fall as advertisers reduce the amount of money they intend to spend on the Network this year (see Advertisers Cut ITV Spend Following Drop In Ratings).

The BBC is thought to be seeking savings of £239 million, with £50 million from improved licence fee collection and £42 million from commercial operations in this financial year. Greg Dyke assured the Financial Times that the efficiency drive would not mean wide-scale redundancies.

In the past commercial rivals have been highly critical of the BBC’s investment strategy and increasingly commercial nature. Speaking at last year’s Edinburgh TV Festival, chairman of the Joint Scrutiny Committee, Lord Puttnam, urged the Government to bring the BBC “most securely” within Ofcom to prevent it abusing its position of “tremendous power” (see GEITF 2002: Puttnam Calls For BBC To Come Under Ofcom).

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk

Recent Television Stories from NewsLine BBC3 Launch To Be Supported By Main Terrestrial Channels Flextech Boss Tipped To Succeed Airey At Channel Five ITV Backs Blind Date After Cilla’s Departure

Subscribers can access ten years of NewsLine articles by clicking the Search button to the left