BBC TO CUT $556 MILLION FROM ITS 2021 BUDGET

The BBC revealed that it expects to cut £408 million ($556 million) from its programming and services budget this year as it tries to deal with a financial tightening caused by other streamers and a drop in funding. In a 39-page report, titled “BBC Value For Audiences,” the British broadcaster said it is on course to deliver £951 million of the overall £1 billion savings target it has set itself for March 2022. That means it has increasingly “been forced to increase scope cuts – cuts to programs and services – to deliver its savings plans”.

The company, which has already made a swathe of job cuts in the past year, pointed to the loss of “The Great British Bake Off” to Channel 4 and the closure of BBC Three as a broadcast channel as examples of savings made to date.

The broadcaster also said its most recent savings program is on course to deliver £951 million of savings by March 31, 2022, and added that revenues from commercial entities such as BBC Studios had grown over the past five years, although the production arm’s contribution to its parent broadcaster is expected to be significantly affected this year because of the pandemic.

“The BBC has faced an effective real-terms reduction in income of around 30% since 2010/11 as a result of increased funding obligations, such as the World Service and S4C, and the freeze in licence fee income for five years from 2010. At the same time, there has been an unprecedented increase in competition for audience time with the rise of streaming services, social media and gaming,”  the company noted.

Despite financial and market challenges, the report shows the BBC is the most-used media brand in the UK; at the heart of UK life – with the public choosing the BBC around 250 million times a day; and used by an average of 5 million people every single minute of the day and night, across TV, radio, and online, and by a total of 45 million across all ages over 24 hours.

“The BBC has made big changes to ensure we provide outstanding value. We are smarter spenders and savers and more efficient than ever before, but there is more to do. The financial challenges and competition we face continue to evolve and while we have demonstrated we can deliver. I want us to adapt and reform further to safeguard the outstanding programmes and services that our audiences love for the future,”  said Tim Davie, Director-General at BBC.