Since then, it has lost out on several live sports deals or worked together with other free-to-air broadcasters such as ITV to guarantee the continuation of live rights. In June, BBC insiders said Hall’s “priority is what appears on screen and on the airwaves” and “everything else must be reduced to a bare minimum”.ĭrama is the only part of the BBC’s television output likely to be protected but the rest of TV content is expected to face cuts of more than £10m.Īfter the 2010 licence fee settlement, which forced the BBC to take over the cost of funding the World Service from the government while freezing the licence fee for six years, the BBC cut its sports rights budget by 15%. The latest announcement is the first time the BBC has announced cuts to on-screen and on-air content. The BBC is expected to set out its final budget proposals – with savings predicted to amount to £550m – in spring 2016. The settlement also includes the closure of the iplayer loophole. The BBC is already facing costs of £700m as part of a deal with the government agreed in July to finance licence fees for over-75s which is phased in from 2018.
The £150m shortfall is partly due to more people watching iPlayer, after it was revealed this year that a loophole allowed viewers to use the catch-up TV service without paying the £145.50 licence fee. Tony Hall, the BBC director general, is expected to tell staff on Wednesday that most of the savings – more than £50m – will come from overheads and contract efficiencies as well as cutting 1,000 middle management jobs, announced in June. More than 90% of the UK’s population watched at least some of the BBC’s coverage of the 2012 London Olympics. However, in June, it lost control of the rights to the Olympic Games from 2022 onwards, after US broadcaster Discovery, the owner of Eurosport, made a £920m offer for exclusive pan-European rights.īBC insiders said the corporation still hoped to bid to show the Olympics in the UK. The corporation has already guaranteed the survival of some of its most popular sports programming, including Match of the Day and Wimbledon. The corporation has struggled to compete for live sports rights against well-financed rivals Sky and BT, leaving many to fear the future of free-to-air sports broadcasting. The Red Button services, which replaced BBC Ceefax in 2012, offer news and sport text services and are particularly popular during big live events such as Wimbledon and Glastonbury.
A “significant chunk” of the savings to be announced on Wednesday morning, amounting to £35m, is expected to come out of sports rights, according to sources.
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