Unions and music industry rally against BBC planned cuts
The BBC's move to cut its costs through radio station closures has met with strong opposition.
The cuts would see the closure of radio station 6Music and the Asian network as well as the suspension of half of its websites, a scaling back in the money spent of securing overseas TV programmes by up to 25% and the selling off of some BBC Worldwide magazine titles. It is predicted that some 600 jobs would be under threat from such a move and already industrial action has been threatened.
The closure of niche digital radio station 6Music has prompted senior music industry figures to band together to lobby against its closure, stating that the station now forms a vital component in discovering new bands and artists.
However, costing the Corporation around £6m a year to run and only attracting 700,000 weekly listeners BBC boss Mark Thompson has said it does not represent good value for money for the licence payer.
It is understood that some 60,000 people have already joined online campaigns to save the station, which was pivotal in discovering bands such as The Killers.
The BBC was due to unveil its plans next month, however, a leak of the report to The Times newspaper has led to that being moved forward to next week.
Despite the outcry, media analyst Paul Richards of Group Numis Securities told The Drum that the company’s potential plans to slim down its online and commercial operations was “probably a very sensible move.”