BBC to Close BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra as Cost Cuts Deepen
BBC Director-General Matt Brittin has announced the closure of three channels: BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra. These are "linear" networks, meaning they run on a fixed timetable, the way television and radio have always worked, rather than on demand the way streaming does.
Brittin said the decisions were needed to deal with immediate cost pressures and to reinvent the corporation. The BBC must save £500 million (about $670 million) by 2028. It has lost more than two million licence fee payers since 2020, and the licence fee is the household charge that pays for the BBC. So far, the BBC has announced £200 million of that savings goal, according to Deadline.
Deadline's report, citing two insiders, says the three services are expected to switch off in spring 2027. Those insiders put the saving at around £10 million. The sums are small beside the target, and one cost will stay. BBC Three shares its broadcast spectrum, the radio frequencies that carry a channel to viewers, with CBBC, the children's channel that airs from 7am to 7pm. That spectrum will still cost money after BBC Three goes.
BBC leaders also talked about merging CBBC with CBeebies, the channel for pre-school children, alongside the BBC Three decision. They dropped the idea. Deadline reports they wanted to avoid any suggestion that the corporation was backing away from children's public service media, meaning the programmes it is required to make for everyone.
Other changes are already in motion. On 8 October, the BBC said it would cut a number of Radio 4 programmes, including the long-running consumer and social affairs show You and Yours. On 28 September, it said it would close its remaining Medium Wave local radio services. A NewscastStudio report puts the total number of planned job losses at 1,800 to 2,000.
The bigger picture may be a different kind of BBC. BBC Sounds, the radio and podcast app launched in 2018, could be folded into iPlayer, the BBC's video service, to make one streaming app for both. Deadline says these talks are tentative. On an internal all-staff call, Brittin said he wanted iPlayer to become an "entertainment destination." Product designer Manon Dave showed a redesigned iPlayer that mixes audio and video.
Brittin also spoke to staff at a town hall. He said the world needs the BBC more than ever, and that it might be a different size and shape afterwards. He said it would be "a better BBC," not a copy of Netflix or YouTube. Staff have pushed back. The Guardian reported that he faced criticism over job cuts and was asked whether senior management ranks were being spared. In August, the BBC reported that Brittin said he had not understood how deep the cuts would need to go when he took the job.
For viewers, the immediate change is simple. Three channels they may have turned on for years are set to go dark, and the way they find BBC programmes will shift toward iPlayer and the apps. For the staff, the next few months will decide how many jobs go, and which of the BBC's plans survive the savings target.
