BBC ‘to axe radio stations and halve website’ in strategic review

The BBC plans to axe two radio stations, cut spending on imported shows and halve the size of its website, it is claimed Thursday. The Times says the measures are part of the BBC’s strategic review to be unveiled next month. Under the plan, the BBC intends to shrink overall services and focus more on quality over quantity. There have already been reports suggesting that the BBC will axe the digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network. Quoting BBC Trust sources, the newspaper states that the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, is also being pushed to slash the budget for imported shows such as Mad Men and Heroes by a third. Thompson reportedly will also introduce a cap on spending on broadcast rights for sports events of 8.5 percent of the licence fee, or about GBP 300m. The Times says the BBC’s web pages are to be halved, backed by a 25 percent cut in staff numbers. The web operation’s GBP 112m budget will also be cut by 25 percent. It also plans to include more links to newspaper articles to drive traffic to the websites of rival publishers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/26/bbc-media-radio-internet-website