The Guardian is reporting this morning that BBC Scotland and BBC Three could go online-only as part of cost-cutting plans.
Last week, Director General, Matt Brittin told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he “couldn’t guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever” as the corporation sought to make £500m of savings.
He added that “the tight financial situation” meant that “we’re having to look at some of those decisions a bit sooner than we might like.”
According to unconfirmed reports, the axe could fall at BBC Three and BBC Scotland as early as next week.
READ MORE. – BBC risks ‘doom spiral’ as further cuts hit Sport, Local and nations
A move online isn’t new to BBC Three, which became online-only back in 2016, before returning as a linear channel in 2022. However, the youth-focused channel’s audience has continued to move towards global streaming platforms. It was originally brought back because in-house research found that viewers would tune in.
Charlotte Moore, then the BBC’s Chief Content Officer said in 2021:
“The BBC needs to back success and make sure its programmes reach as many young people as possible wherever they live in the UK. So regardless of the debates about the past, we want to give BBC Three its own broadcast channel again. It has exciting, groundbreaking content that deserves the widest possible audience and using BBC iPlayer alongside a broadcast channel will deliver the most value.”
BBC Scotland became a dedicated linear channel in 2019, at the time BBC DG, Tony Hall said:
“We know that viewers in Scotland love BBC television, but we know that they want us to better reflect their lives and better reflect modern Scotland.
“The best way to achieve that is a dedicated channel for Scotland.
“It’s a channel that will be bold, creative and ambitious, with a brand-new Scotland-edited international news programme at its heart.
“This is an exciting time for BBC Scotland and for the millions of Scots who love TV.”
However, just 12% of the Scottish population watch the channel live, compared to more than half watching on demand.
“We might have some channels and services where maybe 100,000 people are watching the broadcast service but 500,000 are getting those programmes on iPlayer,” Brittin told the BBC earlier this week.
“When’s the right time to migrate that service fully to being on-demand? And part of my job is to safeguard value for money for the licence fee payer.”
Brittin has also warned that some radio stations may have to close.
We have contacted the BBC for comment.
