In its first response to the government’s green paper, the BBC has set out proposals heralding a “fundamental change of approach” for the Corporation – including a number of “inevitable” service reductions and cuts.
As the BBC looks to cut costs by 20% over the next five years, director general Tony Hall has outlined how the Corporation plans to adapt and change to meet an increasingly digital audience.
In a statement, Hall described “a better BBC for everyone” – including continued commitment to original British drama, improvements to iPlayer and significant investment in BBC World Service to parts of the world, such as North Korea, where there is a “democratic deficit” in impartial news.
However, rolling news, BBC4 and childrens’ television channels such as CBBC are anticipated to fall victim to the cuts.
“These proposals are about creating an open, more distinctive BBC,” Hall said.
“An open BBC that works in partnership for the good of Britain at home and abroad. An open BBC that helps secure the future of public service broadcasting and upholds democracy both at a local and an international level.
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“The BBC must modernise to preserve and enhance what is best about public service broadcasting to ensure we continue to have a BBC that is British, bold and creative.”
In an effort to help secure the future of local newspapers and democratic reporting, the BBC has said that it will offer a new partnership with local newspapers on local reporting, which would see content shared, jointly created and backed by licence fee funding.
Other key aims include finding digital ways to support music discovery, opening up iPlayer to showcase content from others, and creating a new children’s service – iPlay – that will allow children to access more content, across more platforms, in a “safe and trusted” way.
In a statement, the BBC said: “The BBC believes these proposals will have a positive impact on the creative industries, deliver more of what the public wants in terms of original content, and enhance democracy both locally and internationally. They will deliver a BBC which is British, bold and creative.
“There are also hard choices ahead on where the BBC will scale back what it delivers. These choices will be set out later in the year.”
