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BBC Proposes Deep Cuts in Web Site

PARIS — The British Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday yielded to critics of its aggressive expansion, proposing sweeping cuts in spending on its Web site and other digital operations.

The proposals were published in a strategic review, only weeks before a British election that could usher in a period of austerity. Members of the Conservative Party, which is expected to make electoral gains at the expense of the governing Labour Party, have called for the BBC to be reined in, echoing commercial rivals who have complained about the public broadcaster’s growing reach in areas beyond traditional radio and television.

Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said the plans marked a “step-change with the past” at the BBC, which is financed by a mandatory fee on all television-owning British households.

“After years of expansion of our services in the U.K., we are proposing some reductions,” he said in a speech. “The point of the reductions is not to diminish the service we offer to the public, but rather to focus the license fee and the creative energy of the BBC on delivering the highest quality and the maximum public value.”

The BBC has been evolving into a diversified media organization, with growing interests in areas like magazine and book publishing. It has moved successfully onto the Internet, with its Web site rivaling those of American imports like Google and Facebook in Britain.

But the BBC’s expansion has caused griping among book and newspaper publishers, which question the need for public investment on the Internet, already awash in private-sector businesses. Commercial television rivals, meanwhile, have criticized the BBC’s use of public money to invest in broadcasts of sporting events and popular American television series, saying there are plenty of private companies prepared to do this.

James Murdoch, chief executive of the European and Asian operations of News Corp., which controls the British pay television company Sky, last year accused the BBC of a “land grab.”

“The scale and scope of its current activities and future ambitions is chilling,” Mr. Murdoch said in a speech.

On Tuesday, the BBC proposed a 25 percent reduction in its spending on the Web, as well as the closure of several digital radio stations and a reduction in outlays on U.S. television shows. Among the Web services to go would be two aimed at teenagers, called Switch and Blast.

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Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC, said the cuts were meant to free $900 million for higher-quality journalism. Credit...Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The BBC management also recommended that BBC Worldwide, a commercial arm of the broadcaster, should focus more of its operations outside Britain. And it proposed reductions in spending on overhead.

Over all, the BBC said the proposed cuts were aimed at freeing £600 million, or $900 million, a year to invest in higher-quality content, including journalism and children’s programming. That is close to a sixth of £3.5 billion that the BBC collected last year from the license fee.

“This strategy directs the BBC to put quality first; do fewer things better; guarantee access to all; make the license fee work harder; and set new boundaries for itself,” the broadcaster said in its review.

Questions over the boundaries separating public broadcasters from their commercial rivals have been growing across Europe, where private television companies have suffered during the recession because of their reliance on advertising. In France and Spain, governments have tried to bolster public television by moving to phase out advertising on public TV, holding up the ad-free BBC as a model.

The European Commission in Brussels, responding to concerns of commercial broadcasters, recently imposed a new requirement on public broadcasters, saying they must assess the effect on the market before starting any new service, such as a digital television channel. The BBC Trust has already been conducting such tests for new services.

For now, the BBC’s funding seems secure; under an existing agreement, the license fee is set to rise by up to 2 percent annually through 2013.

But some BBC employees fear that future governments will come under increased pressure to reduce funding.

The Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union, which represents thousands of workers at the BBC, said that instead of appeasing critics, the proposals outlined Tuesday could backfire.

“The BBC will not secure the politicians’ favor with these proposals and nor will the corporation appease the commercial sector, which will see what the BBC is prepared to sacrifice and will pile on the pressure for more cuts,” said Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the union, in a statement.

The group fears that a move to cut services could result in hundreds of job losses. The union threatened industrial action if the BBC Trust, which oversees the BBC, adopts the proposals, which will be debated publicly during a 12-week consultation period.

“In the meantime, we will be lobbying hard to reverse the BBC’s stance, which in our view only positions the BBC as a target for those who wish to see the corporation cut down and the license fee eradicated,” Mr. Morrissey added.

A version of this article appears in print on   in The International Herald Tribune. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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