BBC to axe sports bulletins on its TV news channel

The BBC is to axe sports bulletins on its TV news channel and make more senior journalist roles redundant, as the corporation begins to unveil a series of painful cost-saving measures. Lunchtime and overnight bulletins on the BBC News channel will no longer be shown, according to internal announcements made to staff. It is understood staff were told that compulsory redundancies would have to be made, as there had not been enough applicants for a voluntary programme. Across BBC Sport, it is understood there will be a net reduction of 36 jobs, including four senior producer positions. The cuts are part of a BBC-wide plan to save £500m and lose as many as 2,000 staff by 2028. Staff morale was already low and many suspect a strike is inevitable at the broadcaster, given the size of the cuts and an ongoing dispute over pay. The axing of sports bulletins has been seen as part of a wider shift in how sports news is consumed. Senior BBC figures believe that many sports fans have already seen crucial goals and developments on social media long before they appear on bulletins. As a result, they have been directing the BBC’s limited resources towards making content for growing online audiences, especially the insatiable appetite for Premier League football analysis. Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC’s director of sport, has made clear that he is prepared to make unpopular decisions in order to adapt its coverage. Insiders say he has been focusing on online analysis and building digital audiences via social media and YouTube. However, his approach has divided staff. Some believe he has moved too far away from providing bulletin updates for general viewers, who are often older, while other staff members see the changes as painful but necessary. Further cuts are expected to be announced across the corporation in the next few days, ensuring a grim fortnight for staff. Redundancy rounds are expected to rumble on for months. Philippa Childs, the head of the broadcasting union Bectu, said the “slow-motion pace of the announcements will also be adding to the anxiety of those who have yet to hear their fates”. “It seems clear that cuts will have a direct impact on what sport the BBC can cover and the worry is that the quality and breadth of coverage will suffer as a result,” she said. The cuts follow an acute financial crunch at the BBC, as rising costs of making television have combined with the falling value of the licence fee and the fact that a rising number of households are opting not to pay it. Last week, the Guardian revealed the BBC had spent hundreds of millions of pounds of its cash reserves in a single year, increasing concerns over the perilous state of its finances. Financial pressures and changing viewer habits are even more acute in the world of sport, where the rights to show sporting events are expensive and social media provides acres of content for fans. The BBC has taken radical action, axing long-running programmes and coverage of a series of minority sports. It announced earlier this month it was ending Ski Sunday. That decision came after it had already dropped the Commonwealth Games, the Boat Race, the World Indoor Bowls Championships and the Rugby League World Cup. Football Focus, its Saturday lunchtime show, was brought to an end last season. A new BBC Football YouTube channel has reached 100,000 subscribers in four months. Kay-Jelski has also highlighted the reach of BBC coverage of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham over the summer. “The BBC faces difficult choices and significant financial challenges, and we cannot do everything,” he said last month. “Some sports will understandably prioritise the revenue they need to survive and thrive, and every situation is different. “But the value, visibility and scale that free-to-air broadcasting can provide remains something we’re incredibly proud of.” The BBC declined to comment.