BBC World Service plans 382 post closures

In brief

The BBC World Service has outlined plans to “accelerate” its move to digital.

The proposals will see seven more language services moving to digital only, meaning nearly half of the 41 language services offered by the BBC World Service will only be available via digital.

While the BBC World Service will continue to operate in all the languages and countries where it is currently present, the plan includes a net total of around 382 post closures, some TV and radio programmes will stop as well as BBC Arabic radio and BBC Persian radio.

The service currently reaches 148 million people weekly, and the digital share of World Service Languages reach has gone from 19% to 43% since 2018.

The BBC said in a post on its website that as a result of high inflation, soaring costs, and a cash-flat Licence Fee settlement , the BBC’s international services needed to make a saving of £28.5m, as part of the wider £500m of annual savings and reinvestment to make the BBC digital-led.