BBC to cut 500 jobs to improve ‘agility’

LONDON: The British public service broadcaster BBC will cut 500 jobs over the next 20 months to save £200 million ($258 million) and become a “leaner, more agile organization,” it announced on Tuesday (July 23).

The cuts, to be achieved by abolishing or transferring some posts and creating others in “growth areas”, are the latest in a series of job cuts by the BBC as it copes with funding constraints and inflationary pressures.

The broadcaster, which relies heavily on the £169.50 live TV licence fee paid by every household in the UK each year, is also grappling with wider changes in media consumption such as streaming and on-demand services.

The company will cut 500 jobs by March 2026, and its total workforce has fallen by 10%, or nearly 2,000 positions, over the past five years.

The BBC detailed the changes in its annual report published on Tuesday, saying the move was part of “accelerating our digital-first approach to reaching audiences”.

“Over the next two years we will further invest in priority areas that will provide real value to our audiences,” the company said.

Reviewing the past year, director-general Tim Davie said years of below-inflation licence fee settlements had “eaten away” at the company’s revenues and “put a severe strain on our finances”.

He noted that the broadcaster experienced 30% real-terms cuts from 2010 to 2020 and had “endured several difficult years of flat funding”, despite having restored inflation-linked increases.

The BBC’s licence fee income fell by £80m last year due to a 2% drop in sales and fixed licence fee pricing.

According to the annual report, the number of active licences fell from 24.4 million in 2022-23 to 23.9 million at the end of last year.

“We needed to create a leaner, more agile organization and take full advantage of the opportunities of digital-first to redesign our processes, cut costs and better serve our audiences,” David said.

“We also need to consider how best to fund the BBC in the long term to ensure it enjoys all the benefits of universal public service broadcasting into the future.”

The BBC chief executive said it would also require discussions with the government on the “right way” to fund the BBC’s international services at a “critical moment for global democracy”.