BBC set to cut as many as 2,000 jobs as broadcaster trims costs
The company is primarily funded by UK households paying a flat annual license fee, sometimes critically described as a tax
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[PARIS] The BBC is set to cut as many as 2,000 jobs or about 10 per cent of its staff, highlighting the challenges the UK public broadcaster is facing to its funding model.
Interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies announced the necessary downsizing during a call on Wednesday (Apr 15) with employees and a subsequent memo.
“Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing,” Talfan Davies said in the memo. “This is being driven by a number of factors: production inflation remains very high; our license fee and commercial income is under pressure; and the global economy remains turbulent.”
The BBC said in February that it would look to cut costs by about 10 per cent over the next three years. The BBC needs to save an additional £500 million (S$862 million) from total annual operating costs of £5 billion over the next two years, with the bulk of the new savings required in 2027 and 2028, according to the memo.
The BBC, the world’s oldest and largest public service broadcaster, is undergoing significant changes as it brings in former Google executive Matt Brittin as its new director general, starting May 18. He will take the helm as the BBC fights a defamation suit filed by US President Donald Trump over misleading edits in an episode of its flagship Panorama programme, and as it navigates changes to its unique funding model.
The BBC is primarily funded by UK households paying a flat annual license fee, sometimes critically described as a tax. That model is laid out in a Royal Charter, a document issued by the monarch that cements the BBC’s mission to serve the public interest and which is due to expire in 2027.
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Lawmakers are exploring options that would push the BBC to adopt strategies used by commercial streaming services, including a “mixed funding model” that blends license-fee income with subscriptions and commercial revenue. BLOOMBERG
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