BBC Cuts 1,700 Jobs To Reinvest In Programmes

BBC director general, Mark Thompson, has announced job cuts of over 1,700 at the Corporation in order to free up £139 million a year by 2008 to reinvest in the broadcaster’s programmes.

The move, made as part of the BBC’s drive to meet viewer expectations, will lead to job losses across the Corporation’s professional services departments, including strategy and distribution, policy and legal, finance, property and business affairs and BBC People; the Corporation’s HR department.

Job cuts will also be made to the BBC’s marketing and communications divisions, with the move representing a 46% reduction in head count overall. The entire procedure will result in 980 posts being closed, some through staff turnover, others through redundancy, and 750 posts being outsourced.

However, the announcement represents only the first wave of staff cutbacks, with Thompson expected to unveil further job losses across the Corporation’s content and output divisions next week. Overall, the cost savings from the combined redundancies are expected to reach £355 million, exceeding expectations, and the BBC’s own target of £320 million.

Thompson said: “In December I talked about the creative prize for the BBC and our audiences, but the cost is nothing short of transformation. We have made a strong start, showing we are serious about change and ensuring we are maximising the value of our income for audiences’ benefit. We need to make the BBC a simpler, more agile operation, ready to take the creative lead in a very different, very challenging digital future.”

The savings made by the job cuts will be ploughed into the BBC’s programming, enabling a much higher quality of output, and more original series to be commissioned. The move follows last week’s proposals by the Government that the BBC governors be abolished, with a new trust taking their place, ensuring that the Corporation concentrates more on its PSB output and less on aping the schedules of rival broadcasters in competition for ratings (see Governors Axed As BBC Charter Renewed For 10 Years).

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

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