BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

It'll probably go something like "we wil stop spending money as if it was water obtained from the ocean. we might even axe Eastenders to save a few quid because we think it's that which is making Britain depressed"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

The BBC's average weekly reach is so high that it's unlikely that many of the people who claim never to watch any of their channels, really, truly never watch any of their channels. ;)

In any case, we already have forewarning of some of the budget cutting as it has been drip-fed into the media over the last few weeks. The axing of Doctor Who Confidential has the Who-nutters up in arms as you would expect. Tomorrow the BBC will also reduce the number of red button streams it broadcasts via satellite, allowing to drop from 7 transponders to 6. That should save a pretty penny as well.

Once relocation costs are paid down, the closure of Television Centre and the basing of certain departments in Manchester instead of overcrowded, overpriced London should also bring some savings.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Chris, i did read somewhere a few days ago that the BBC maybe thinking twice of moving some of the studios from TV center.

I cant remember where i read it though.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Would be good to find a link for that as it would have major implications for their future plans. The fact is, a lot of the move has already happened. Children's completed the move last month.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Hope the BBC does not cut back too much,for all its faults i think it still provides very good services news 24 gets a regular airing with me,as do many other news programmes.

We all know competitors want to see it shrink so you buy from them,James Murdoch was banging on about cutting the BBC down years ago,but for me for the cost it provides a stirling service still.

Besides which if it shrunk too much channels such as Dave,and alibi,watch and uk gold would have very liitle to show.;)

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

l will second that.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

The BBC's role as a benchmark in broadcast quality in the UK is often understated.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

my question is given the bbc is supposed to be balanced, why are they protecting childrens programmes and specifically targeting sports heavily? as well as investing in silly celeb programmes.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

So have they cut any of the upper management wage bills, Have they cut any of the massive payments to actors and presenters, For instance i don't have a link but i am sure i read that Jeremy the mouth Clarkson is paid nearly half a million for being an arse on top gear.

I am glad to see the BBC have finally realised they cannot keep spending more and more money then going cap in hand to the Government saying please can we have some more, Privately funded companies cannot go running to the Government if they spend to much so why should the BBC think they have a god given right to spend public money with no come back. ?

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

I think their payments to celebs hasnt been cut much, they recently signed up a new sat night celeb show with a 10s of millions budget to compete with itv.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Could be true however I'm sure they'd rather he be an arse on the Beeb than Sky etc

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

The OP link has been updated with details of the cuts now.

• BBC HD is to go. It will be replaced with BBC2 HD.
• BBC2 is to lose its entire budget for daytime TV and will show repeats of quality evening shows instead plus more reliance on BBC News output like Hardtalk.
• BBC3 will focus more closely on pioneering new material to then feed in to BBC2.
• BBC4 will do likewise for BBC1.
• BBC3 is to be added to the list of departments moving to Salford - it will transfer in 2016.
• Radio1xtra will lose its own news bulletins. Except for during breakfast it will now share with R1.
• R3 likewise will now share bulletins from R4.
• Sports budget drops by 15%
• BBC1 budget drops by 3% but a greater proportion of what's left will go to comedy and drama.
• By 2017, staff levels to drop by 2,000.

Plenty more to see at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

There is no doubts that cuts had to come as everybody has to tighten their belts and the BBC is no different but my worry is what happens in 2017 as l do not think the BBC could take any more cuts then without it affecting some of its quality output but what do you think Chris.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Mark Thompson has said the same - that any more cuts will radically and perhaps permanently change the way the BBC looks and operates. At the moment they're trying to maintain the same level of output by rearranging and re-using resources.

Personally I think there are some things that could still go. Radio1xtra is an indulgence IMO, as is the Asian network. BBC3 and BBC4 have simply carved up between them what used to be the remit for BBC2 and I'm not convinced that all three of those channels need to continue to exist.

Also, do we really need separate channels for Cbeebies and CBBC? CBBC's audience, in particular, is supposed to be at school for most of the time that channel is broadcasting. CITV manages perfectly well with a single channel that is branded for preschoolers until the school age kids are home. If there is an overlap when both audiences need to be catered for, then that could be handled by BBC2, which once this new budget comes into effect will be looking for material to broadcast during the day as it will no longer have any money to make its own.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

l also think another thing the BBC could do is utilise its huges archives to fill in weaknesses in programming as it has some wonderful stuff in these archives which quite a few viewers would love to see.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

In my view.

bbc3,4 cbbc should go.
the bbc should not spend money on trying to gain viewers of commercial channels, eg. competing with itv sat nights.
I disagree with the decision to spend extras on comedy.

The bbc could setup an online archive of all historical shows and sell access to it to raise funds, old classics like grange hill etc. There is clearly demand as shown by the illegal sharing of old shows.

It was also very wrong to do that deal with sky on F1 just to stop channel4 getting F1. They acting like a commercial channel when they shouldnt be.

Also I dont agree with them paying middle aged newsreaders 100k a year, get someone form uni doing it for 15k a year instead. Channel4 did it with countdown, presenters demanding obscene wages so they had the balls to sack them and replace them and in my view jeff and that new girl are doing a great job on countdown on much lower wages.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Will we see a rise in the licence fee after all these cuts?... I thought so.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Really? Really?

Why do you think they're having these cuts?!

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

The licence fee will not be allowed to rise until after 2017. If you tried reading about something before deciding what you think about it you'd be less confused. ;)

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

i cant remember where i read it but the reasons that were given that they may not move them is because some people will need to travel between thames studios and the BBC ones within a short ammount of time and if the studios are so far apart big costs could be incured for getting the people between studios ontime.

---------- Post added at 20:47 ---------- Previous post was at 20:45 ----------

i have been saying this for a long time.

There is so much they could release on DVD or show on TV.

Why not on their website put it to the people what they would like to be shown or released from their achives and release them at an affordable price and not a massive price like £80 a box set which most people will wait for it to fall in price to atleast below £40.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

You may have been reading the complaints from some of the staff that didn't want to move out of London.

Not only is the Salford move going ahead, they are now planning to move an additional 1,000 staff there compared to the original plan. BBC Three will be in Salford from 2016.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

agreed with everything said there, it seems they have a problem they cant/refuse to shake off. The bbc will probably have about 4x the staff at the olympics than itv does.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

I can add a few changes that would save a fortune.

1. Get rid of Woss and Norton.
2. Let's return to the days of Kenneth Kendal i.e one presenter to give us news instead of the tennis style tittilating conversations between two.
3. Stop giving us weather details from location. You don't need to be in Scotland to tell us it's raining there.
4. Scrap 'Stenders.
5. Leave local news to the radio. We don't need an onsite crew reporting on the likes of a "Rabbit owner in Peterborough....."

However I won't deny they make some cracking drama series.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

It's incredible to see what some of the BBC radio presenters are saying on facebook and twitter about how their jobs will go when so many shows and stations will be networked. Up in arms about it, the lot of them. Although I did wonder why these people were not so vocal 3 years ago when commercial radio went the same way.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Who's confused? What I said in my post was right.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

No, it wasn't. You suggested they'd increase the fee after making the cuts, while neglecting to include the significant fact that there will be no fee increase for at least 6 years.

Still, if the facts don't fit your views, why not, eh.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

will the licence fee increase after the cuts, yes or no?

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Ross is no longer with BBC he is back with Channel 4

I do agree they waste money with this on location weather reports

and yes some of the onsite reporting can be a waste of money to.

i also think a lot of their shows are boring and tedious, instead of aiming at particular audiences they should start to do more family orientated shows and get back to writing some of the best sitcoms in the world.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

I'm not interested in hare-brained attempts to frame questions so that the answer appears to back up your view. All you're doing is trying - and failing - to dodge the inconvenient fact that Parliament has banned the BBC from increasing the licence fee until 2017 at the earliest.

Insisting that your cynicism is justified simply because the licence fee will at some point in the future go upwards is about as clever as pretending you're some sort of soothsayer for claiming that the sun will come up tomorrow morning.

If there was any spark of intelligence about your argument you might at least try to factor in by how much the licence fee would have to go up in 2017 - assuming it does go up - in order to counteract the effects of six years of inflation.

The value of the licence fee, by staying static in cash terms, will fall significantly in the next 6 years. The next time it increases, it is entirely possible that it won't be allowed to go up far enough for its value to be even the same as it is today, never mind greater.

Please, stop me if this is confusing you.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Ross is on ITV isn't he? Minus that stupid 'Guy Fawkes' visage his mid-life crisis brought on. :)

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

i thought he was with Channel 4 for a bit before his new talk show on ITV started.

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l cannot watch Ross as he is overpaid and over rated compared to Stephen Fry who is often excellent in most off the stuff he does.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

Calm down. The last thing I wanted to do was upset you.

Re: BBC set to announce budget cuts
 

I feel the same about Wossie, one of the most expensive waste's of space I have ever encountered.