BBC cuts: in detail

Television

Summary of BBC management’s key proposals:

BBC One

A small reduction in the number of new factual, comedy or entertainment programmes or feature films broadcast after the 10 o’clock news. Replaced by repeat programmes from BBC One and other channels; peak-time repeats would increase by around one per cent overall, but would remain below 10 per cent

A small reduction in the number of peak-time entertainment programmes but maintain Saturday evening entertainment shows

Reduction in spend on acquired films and series

Remove mid-morning and 3pm news summaries

BBC One to become the channel for all new general daytime programmes

In time, following digital switchover, remove children’s programmes from BBC One’s afternoon schedule

New investment in drama and comedy

Reduce spend on sports rights

Increase UK wide showings of programmes originally made for audiences in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Launch full BBC One High Definition (HD) channels for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which would replicate the existing Standard Definition (SD) channel in that nation

In England no region specific services would be carried on BBC One HD. Ways to minimise disruption to viewers when switching between HD and SD to access programmes made for their particular area would be investigated

BBC Two & BBC HD

Maintain investment in drama and increase investment in scripted comedy

Make fewer entertainment panel or chat shows

BBC Two and BBC Four would share more arts and music programmes through complementary scheduling and repeating. A small number of arts and music programmes would transfer from BBC Two to BBC Four

Reduce current affairs programming by around nine hours a year

Reinvest in factual programmes, in particular in history, science and business

Daytime schedule to feature international news and current affairs programmes at lunchtime. Other parts of the schedule would be repeats of mainly factual programmes, including science, history, natural history and arts, as well as live sport

In time, following digital switchover, remove children’s programmes from BBC Two morning slots

A small reduction in the coverage of more niche interest sports

Launch a single version, with no variations in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, of BBC Two in HD in 2012 to replace the current BBC HD channel. Nations variations would continue in SD

BBC Three

A specific remit to act as a place to nurture and develop talent and programme content for BBC One

Some reductions in drama, music and entertainment programmes

Share more programmes with BBC One, to provide additional chances to watch programmes which appeal to younger audiences October 2011 42

Delivering Quality First / Public consultation

BBC Four

BBC Four would play a more complementary role to BBC Two

More programming in areas such as live music, both classical and pop, arts and culture, some of which would transfer from BBC Two to BBC Four

Factual programmes would generally focus on more specialist subjects with other factual programmes shown on BBC Two

Continue to provide new comedy and entertainment

Reduce investment in original UK drama, although the type of drama that is currently made by BBC Four might feature on BBC Two. BBC Four would continue to show the best of foreign language drama and film from across the world

CBBC and CBeebies

No major changes proposed

BBC News Channel

Focus on core and breaking news stories, with a reduced expenditure elsewhere. Within the news sequences there would be fewer features and special reports

Less coverage of areas such as arts, culture and science, and less frequent dedicated sequences such as business

More re-use of existing BBC news programmes in the 'back half hours' (times after half past each hour) to replace some of the current specially made content. Some original programmes such as Hardtalk would continue

Continue to simulcast the main BBC One news bulletins

BBC Parliament

No major changes proposed

Radio

Summary of BBC management’s key proposals:

Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra

Build the on-air relationship between Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra

Share news bulletins except at breakfast when bespoke news would continue on each station

Simulcast programmes between 2am-4am Monday to Friday

Replace the current late night Nations’ opt-out programmes on Radio 1 with a single programme that offers a UK-wide platform for undiscovered, unsigned music and emerging talent from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Radio 2

Safeguard the mainstay of daytime programmes

Replace regular comedy programmes with comedy showcases and ad-hoc comedy series, in order to continue to develop new comedy talent

Reduce the amount of live music broadcast on the station, by a small increase in the number of repeats of Friday Night is Music Night and In Concert re-cast as an occasional event within the weekday evening shows

More sharing within news bulletins between Radio 2 and 6 Music

6 Music

Share main news bulletins with Radio 2, although 6 Music would retain its bespoke music news output

Radio 3

Broadcast around 25 per cent fewer live and specially recorded lunchtime concerts

Reduce the cost of evening concerts by broadcasting fewer orchestral concerts and replacing them with chamber and instrumental concerts

Less specially recorded contemporary music for Hear and Now

Reduce the amount of original drama, although longer-form drama would remain on the station

More sharing within news bulletins between Radio 3 and Radio 4

Reinvest in The Proms to maintain quality

In addition, BBC management is conducting a review of the BBC’s orchestras and singers to consider where both efficiency and scope savings can be made. Proposals are due later in the autumn.

Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra

A small reduction in factual and current affairs budgets

One per cent increase in number of repeated programmes

Reinvest in landmark factual programming, high profile drama and online to complement broadcast events and expand the archive

A contingency plan to ensure that in the event of the failure of the Long Wave transmitter, current programming broadcast on Long Wave, including Test Match Special, would transfer to other analogue BBC radio stations

Reduce the amount of originated programmes on Radio 4 Extra, although retain family-targeted programming

Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra

Continue to broadcast a live 24 hour schedule, but find ways to reduce the costs of overnight programming

Maintain sport output at approximately current levels, although reduce the cost of sports presentation including using smaller teams at many events

Reduce Radio 5 Live’s team of regional journalists in England, and work more closely with other parts of BBC News, particularly BBC Local Radio and Newsgathering

Business programming to focus on the key times of early morning/breakfast and afternoons

End some Sunday programmes, including comedy in the morning and some current affairs programmes in the early evening

BBC Asian Network

Maintain Asian Network as a national service

Broaden the existing target audience to encompass British Asian listeners between 25 and 45

Focus on six distinctive content areas: BBC news, music and entertainment, Asian culture, discussion, languages and specialist music

Remove drama and documentary programmes from the station

Reduce the amount of weekday language programmes

Close the station between midnight and 6am

Digital platforms

Invest in the roll-out of the BBC national DAB multiplex to 97 per cent coverage of the population by 2017 and partner to expand local DAB coverage to 90 per cent of UK homes by 2017, subject to the Government’s decision on switchover. This would make it possible, in the long term, to remove some radio services from some digital television platforms if this will release capacity

Nations and Regions

Summary of BBC management’s key proposals:

Television programmes for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Implement a ‘fewer, bigger, better’ strategy for programmes specifically made for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and show more of these to audiences across the UK

Maintain the existing level of investment in news bulletins and flagship strands, though reduce slightly other non-core news and current affairs programming

Increase the impact of programming in other genres, though reduce the overall amount of such programming

A significant investment in the amount of network programming produced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Television programmes for English Regions

Maintain the main bulletins on BBC One, though the 3pm summary and Saturday lunchtime bulletins would end

The regional current affairs programme, Inside Out, would continue, but with programmes covering larger regions. Each current region would, however, retain its own investigations team

BBC management is reviewing the number of regional variants in England carried on digital satellite and intends to reduce this to enable savings in distribution costs, though these programmes would continue to be transmitted on Freeview

BBC One and BBC Two in HD in the Nations and English Regions

BBC management is currently considering how best to deliver BBC One and BBC Two in HD to audiences across the UK in the longer term. You can read more about this in the television section

BBC Alba

No major changes proposed

BBC Radio Scotland

Focus on delivering speech output in daytime and music output in the evenings

A 10 to 20 per cent reduction in originations of comedy, drama and documentaries which would be replaced by more repeats and relevant programmes which have been produced in Scotland for the BBC's UK radio networks

Reduce the number of different weekday afternoon programmes, while maintaining the commitment to cover the arts and culture of Scotland in a longer-form programme

Fewer differences in programming between the Medium Wave and the FM schedules, in particular sports coverage

The service would stop at midnight when Radio Five Live would be broadcast until 6am October 2011 48

Delivering Quality First / Public consultation

BBC Radio nan Gàidheal

Protect core news and feature output with a potential 10 to 15 per cent reduction of other live programming

BBC Radio Wales

Prioritise investment in peak hours and daily news services

Broadcast a simpler schedule with fewer, longer programmes

Reduce off-peak feature output by one quarter, but transfer elements of that content to peak programmes

BBC Radio Cymru

Prioritise investment in core news services and safeguard coverage of Welsh culture and events

Reduce spend on off-peak programming, in order to protect morning programmes, including a decrease of around a quarter in originated feature programmes and a small reduction in the number of hours the station broadcasts each day

Less coverage of community events, although continue to provide comprehensive coverage of national events in Wales

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle

Reduce overall broadcast hours by eight hours per week with the station closing at midnight when it would switch to BBC Radio 5 Live

Moderate change to the remainder of the schedule – to focus on maintaining the current range of content but with fewer programme strands on weekend mornings. On weekday afternoons and evenings extend some existing strands and reposition others

BBC Local Radio

Focus spend on peak-time programmes - breakfast, mid-morning and drivetime - sport, and faith on Sunday mornings

Increase levels of sharing in off-peak slots: weekday afternoons, Sunday afternoons and evenings

On weekday afternoons most stations would share programming with their neighbouring stations, although a few, which serve a particularly distinct audience, would remain separate

On weekday evenings between 7pm and 10pm, programming would be shared across England, with all stations coming together except when providing local sports commentaries

At other off-peak periods sharing would occur at a variety of levels. Some would be akin to the regional television areas, and during the late evening in five larger areas: the North; the West Midlands; the East Midlands; the East and South East; and the West and South West

All stations would broadcast Radio 5 Live from 1am until the start of their breakfast programme

A number of locally split breakfast programmes would end

Within all shared programming individual stations would continue to provide local news bulletins at present, and would be able to leave the shared schedules in times of civil emergency or bad weather

BBC London would lose a number of off-peak programmes and reduce other spend to bring the station more in line with other BBC Local Radio stations

Medium Wave

Medium Wave transmission for BBC services would end in areas of England where coverage duplicates FM. Subject to further technical analysis, across the UK the stations which BBC management would expect to continue to transmit in Medium Wave include Radio 5 Live, BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio Jersey, BBC Radio Guernsey, BBC Gloucester, BBC Derby, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales and Radio Ulster/Foyle

Digital and distribution

Summary of BBC management’s key proposals:

BBC Online

Continue to implement the previously approved budget reduction of 25 per cent, which is re-focussing the service around ten audience-facing products: the Homepage; News; Sport; TV & iPlayer; Search; Weather; Radio & Music; Knowledge & Learning; CBBC; and CBeebies

Prepare the BBC for a fully-converged digital world, where linear and non-linear content are brought together for audiences across multiple devices, by proposing to invest in:

Four-screen experiences: to extend the depth and breadth of content across connected TVs, computers, mobiles and tablets

Digital curation: use editorial, social and personal tools to make the most of content, bring audiences more of what they like, and increase their engagement and participation with the BBC

An open technical approach: share technical platforms, metadata and code with the industry in support of a more digitally creative UK (where contracts and regulations make it possible)

Social experiences: to make the most of the growing popularity of networks off bbc.co.uk, extend the reach of content, engage with new audiences and closely integrate experiences with BBC Online

Open access: to ensure a full range of content is available on as many consumer platforms and devices as possible – to make products far-reaching, improve accessibility and deliver value for audiences

Archive services: Make content permanently available by putting the best of the BBC’s back catalogue archive online

BBC Red Button

Reduce the number of video streams available on satellite and cable from nine to one to provide a more consistent service across all TV platforms. This would take place towards the end of 2012, after the Olympic Games

Close the news multiscreen service

Develop new Internet Protocol Television services for connected TV sets, with access through the BBC Red Button