“BBC Online to slash jobs, websites”

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BBC Online to slash jobs, websites Posted: 24 Jan 2011 12:28 PM PST BBC director-general Mark Thompson, shown speaking in Edinburgh in 2010, says the corporation is cutting websites "we just don't need." (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)The BBC will trim its online budget by 25 per cent, eliminate about 360 jobs and close hundreds of websites as part of overall cost-cutting efforts and a desire to streamline its internet offerings. The British public broadcaster announced on Monday that it intends to cut the BBC Online budget about $54 million Cdn, dropping it to about $164 million Cdn by 2013-2014. "BBC Online is a huge success but our vast portfolio of websites means we sometimes fall short of expectation," said director-general Mark Thompson, who also acknowledged the cuts would be "painful" for the organization. "A refocusing on our editorial priorities, a commitment to the highest quality standards and a more streamlined and collegiate way of working will help us transform BBC Online for the future." The changes include: Fewer news blogs and a reduction in overall sports news and live sport offerings. Reducing standalone forums, communities and message boards, replacing them with external social media tools. Cutting non-news feature content on regional sites. The closure of hundreds of websites or web pages, including teen portal Switch and teen interactive site Blast, documentary short site Video Nation, sports community site 606 and digital radio offerings such as 5 Live Sports Extra (live sports matches), Radio 7 (comedy and drama), 1Xtra and 6 Music (music). Introducing automated content for program websites. The job cuts affect a number of online departments, including journalism, regional news, children's sites; BBC Vision (TV programming), sports; audio and music and technical and engineering. The BBC's online service had "grown like Topsy," said BBC executive Roly Keating. He added that "we just don't need" the sites slated for closure. The broadcaster vowed to focus on higher quality news, clearer coverage on its local sites, boosting its arts and culture coverage on the main news website, reducing the amount of show business news, and revamping its popular iPlayer. The cuts are part of the BBC's overall drive to slash costs by 20 per cent. With files from The Associated Press This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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