The BBC has started a redundancy process in its TV and streaming division, heightening staff fears that Matt Brittin will announce the closure of the poorly performing BBC Three and BBC Scotland channels next week.
The corporation’s director general, who has repeatedly said that linear TV and radio services may have to shut as audiences move online, is expected to inform staff on Wednesday of the latest stage of a plan to save £۵۰۰m and shed up to ۲,۰۰۰ jobs.
This week, Dan McGolpin, the director of the BBC iPlayer and Channels division, which includes all the corporation’s TV stations, called for expressions of interest across the department in taking voluntary redundancy.
In an email he said the plan to “mitigate the number of [enforced] redundancies” included sounding out staff interest about job-sharing arrangements, a reduction in hours, and “relocating to another BBC base across the UK”.
The move has fuelled speculation that the BBC is about to take the two channels online-only, according to sources, as Brittin focuses on cutting back on TV and radio services and content that delivers the least value for money.
“It is no secret that BBC Scotland and BBC Three are very expensive on a cost-per-viewer basis – a key metric being looked at – and they clearly haven’t achieved what was hoped,” said one insider.
It would be the second time BBC Three has been taken off linear broadcast. The youth-focused channel – which launched in ۲۰۰۳ and generated hits including Gavin and Stacey, Fleabag, Killing Eve and the lockdown hit Normal People – moved online-only in ۲۰۱۶ to save costs.
Since making a comeback to linear TV in ۲۰۲۲, it has struggled as audiences increasingly drift to streaming TV and video platforms such as YouTube. BBC Three recently announced it was canning the high-profile RuPaul’s Drag Race UK owing to financial pressures.
On Tuesday, the channel’s highest-rating show was Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, which was broadcast in a primetime ۹pm slot but only managed an average audience of ۷۴,۰۰۰.
Typically about ۴% of the UK population watch the channel live in a week. Its cost per user hour was ۲۶p in ۲۰۲۳-۲۴ and ۱۸p in ۲۰۲۴-۲۵, the last year the BBC broke out statistics for individual services. This compares with ۱۰p for BBC One that year, ۹p for BBC Two and ۶p for BBC Four.
BBC Three’s budget was doubled to about £۸۰m when it returned to linear TV, rising to £۹۰m in ۲۰۲۳-۲۴, but it was cut to £۶۶m in ۲۰۲۴-۲۵.
A similar online-only fate is looming for the BBC Scotland television channel, which was launched in ۲۰۱۹ as a dedicated outlet for Scottish programming, separate to the Gaelic-language BBC Alba.
According to the BBC’s latest annual report to ۳۱ March just ۱۲% of people in Scotland watch the channel live. That compares with ۵۴% of the adult population consuming BBC Scotland content each week across BBC TV/iPlayer, BBC Radio and BBC Online.
The BBC Scotland TV channel had a budget of £۴۲m in ۲۰۲۴-۲۵, while its cost per user hour was ۱۳p.
“If most of an audience is getting things on demand, we have to look at the value and the cost of all of those different services,” Brittin told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme. “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.”
In June, the BBC announced plans to cut ۶۰ jobs in Scotland, to save £۱۰m. The BBC Scotland channel has received about £۲۵۰m in funding since its launch but has failed to attract large audiences. Its flagship news magazine programme, The Nine, was scrapped two years ago after some episodes drew as few as ۱,۷۰۰ viewers.
One source believes that completely shutting the TV channel would be too politically difficult for the BBC, and that an online-only future would be a cost-effective and acceptable solution.
Brittin has also suggested radio services could be axed, having already announced that between ۳۵۰ and ۴۰۰ hours of audio content will be cut by the end of the next financial year.
The corporation has already made a number of cost-saving announcements, including permanently reducing the presenter roster on Radio ۴’s Today after the departure of Amol Rajan. It also axed the evening news programme The World Tonight after more than ۵۰ years.
In ۲۰۱۰, Mark Thompson, then director general, proposed shutting the Asian Network and ۶ Music. Ultimately both survived following a backlash, although the Asian Network was relocated to Birmingham last year and had its dedicated news bulletins replaced by Newsbeat two years ago.
Cost per user hour, the Asian Network, Radio ۱Xtra and Radio ۳ are the most expensive of the BBC’s stations.
The BBC said it did not comment on speculation.
