BBC headquarters Courtesy of Carl Court/Getty Images The BBC, the U.K. public service broadcaster, will cut 550 jobs, slash content spending by £80 million ($107 million) over two years and “review” broadcast TV channels as part of a big cost savings push.
The moves are part of the effort by the team of new BBC director general Matt Brittin, a former Google top executive, to slash costs across operations and functions.
The staff reductions will hit the BBC’s Content, Nations and News teams.
Content commissioning spending across the BBC’s TV, radio, and news divisions will amount to £80 million over the coming two years, the leadership shared on Wednesday. The broadcaster also said it would “review” the viability of linear channels, meaning some could disappear, as well as programming, meaning some shows are likely to be axed.
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Broad cost savings have been in the works for a while. In an internal email in April, which was leaked, the BBC’s deputy director general, Rhodri Talfan Davies, said the broadcaster would have to save £500 million ($670 million) from its annual operating costs budget worth around £5.0 billion ($6.7 billion) over the next two years. He signaled that the total job number at the BBC could drop by up to 2,000.
British media have in recent days positioned them as the biggest cuts at the public broadcaster in 15 years. The reductions come as the BBC’s executive leadership is in the final stages of negotiations with the U.K. government, led by Labour Party boss Keir Starmer, over its future funding.
Brittin started his BBC role on May 18, taking over from Tim Davie, who resigned after editorial blunders, including a particularly explosive Trump row, that caused headlines and discussions. Brittin, a graduate of Cambridge, joined McKinsey as a consultant out of university before he became a commercial director at Trinity Mirror, owner of The Daily Mirror. In January 2007, Brittin joined the Google executive ranks.
In December, the U.K. government had launched the once-in-a-decade review of the BBC’s royal charter, which governs its operations and priorities, with the aim of “bolstering trust in the broadcaster and putting it on a sustainable financial footing.”
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