BBC slashing string of new shows and expected to run MORE repeats in huge cost-saving crackdown
THE BBC will broadcast 1,000 fewer hours of new TV programmes this year - and is expected to run more repeats in a huge cost-saving crackdown.
About half of the 1,000-hour cut will come from sport, with no Commonwealth Games or men’s football World Cup, as there was in 2022.
The other 500 hours will come from different areas including BBC Four, which the corporation announced a year ago would become “the home of both the BBC’s rich archive and arts & music performances”.
In this year’s plan, the BBC said its strategy would include focusing on “more unique, high-impact content”.
The Corporation must find £400million in yearly savings by 2027/28, according to its annual plan published yesterday.
It said the current £159 TV licence price freeze “continues to place significant financial challenges on the BBC at a time of high inflation and media super-inflation”.
The corporation said it was currently “spending more on, and commissioning more hours of, UK-originated TV content than any other organisation”.
It made 12,500 “originated hours” in 2022. Deadline reported that the BBC TV budget will decline by £96m to £1.75bn over the coming year.
The 1,000 hour figure does not include news.
However, it was confirmed earlier this year that BBC News and BBC World News would be merging.
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The BBC is expecting to save more than £1million a year by cutting the numbers of presenters.
The merged channel will broadcast from London in the daytime and Singapore and Washington at other times.
Ahead of the spring launch, the BBC's Lucy Hockings, Christian Fraser, Matthew Amroliwala, Yalda Hakim and Maryam Moshiri were announced as the main presenters.
However, it means a number of well-known faces have lost their presenting roles.
These include Jane Hill, Geeta Guru-Murthy, Martine Croxall, Ben Brown and Annita McVeigh.
Their exits come after Joanna Gosling, David Eades and Tim Willcox took voluntary redundancy and broadcast their final bulletins.