11/09/15 News Stories

BBC Three to go online



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26447089

BBC trust approved plans to scrap the BBC3 TV channel and make it online-only. The move will save £30m. the trust rejected another proposal to launch a new BBC1+1 channel in place of BBC 3 because of its likely impact on commercial rivals including ITV and Channel 5. On average, 11.2 million people watch BBC3 every week, with fewer than 1 million of that total not watching any other TV service. Ofcom’s market impact assessment concluded that a BBC1+1 channel would have a negative impact on commercial rivals. Some of the £30m BBC3 budget will be redirected towards drama on BBC1, which currently has a budget of about £1bn. Under its original plans, BBC3 TV would have been switched off this autumn; this has been extended until January 2016, the last year of the current BBC charter.

BBC cutting jobs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-329819/All-change-BBC-2-900-jobs-cut.html

Hundreds of jobs are expected to be axed by the BBC. A drop in the number of people paying the licence fee has hit BBC funding harder than previously expected and that the broadcaster must take radical action. The BBC need to find another £150m which ultimately makes decisions harder. They are trying to reduce everything to a bare minimum. The deficit has emerged because increasing numbers of people have become aware of a loophole that allows people not to pay the licence fee if they only watch catch-up television.