BBC Plans To Save £6 Million Through Website Closures
Several of the BBC’s online operations will face the axe next year as the Corporation seeks to reduce costs and appease commercial competitors in the run up to charter renewal.
The Corporation claims it will save around £6 million through the cuts, which will be made by the end of the financial year 2005/06. The resulting savings will be reinvested in new media projects more closely aligned to Public Service remit of the BBC.
Amongst the services facing closure are the US Sports section of bbc.co.uk/sport and the BBC’s local history site, bbc.co.uk/legacies. Both sites were selected for closure because of similarities with the existing market and the insufficient value for money they provided.
Funding for the Corporation’s cult TV website will also be reduced, with the exception of the Doctor Who section, which the BBC intends to use to support the forthcoming series on BBC One. The Lifestyle section of the website will also remain active, albeit with reduced investment.
The BBC’s local websites will continue to function, as the Corporation claims they “offer a valuable means of support for local communities”. However, in future the sites will concentrate on supporting the BBC’s public service purposes and will not feature events listings, in order to avoid duplication of commercially available information.
Commenting on the funding re-think Ashley Highfield, director of BBC new media and technology said: “This is all about focusing our investment so that we can best use our funding to reach and delight the largest audiences with the most distinctive and original content. It is about preparing ourselves for the broadband world. In other words, decommission, reduce funding or archive web content that no longer needs this level of investment or which may have become amply supplied by the market.”
The BBC has stated an intent to increase the amount of multi-media content available via its websites, initially boosting the offerings of its local and film areas. Highfield continued: “It is an ongoing process for bbc.co.uk. These changes build on the first steps we took in July to close those websites which we felt did not offer sufficient distinctive public value for the investment required.”
The initial savings delivered by the BBC’s online division represented 2.5% of our web output. The latest round of cuts are expected to reduce the Corporation’s internet-spend by 7.5% meeting the targets set by BBC governors of a 10% reduction overall.
Several new projects are expected to be spawned with the reallocation of online funding, including the BBC Creative Archive, interactive Media Player and iCan. The broadcaster has also pledged to funding more innovative interactive content from independent companies.
The cost-cutting drive follows the publication of a new online remit by the Corporation’s board of governors, acting in response to the Graf review (see BBC Announces Radical Shake-Up Of Online Operations). The BBC has also embarked on cost cuts in its magazine division, reacting to claims that it was competing outside of its established markets and announcing the closure of all magazines which are not paired with existing programmes or programme genres (see Origin Titles Next On List For BBC Magazine Sale).
BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk
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