Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
02/12/2011

BECTU Orgainise Lobby Of Parliament Over BBC Cuts

The broadcast media and entertainment union (BECTU) is organising a lobby of parliament about the proposed cuts facing the BBC.
Union members are being asked to speak to their MPs about the damage that will be caused if Delivering Quality First is allowed to go through unopposed.
Delivering Quality First is the BBC's plan for how it can best deliver the highest quality programmes and content to audiences until the end of the Charter in 2017.
The BBC announced it during its strategy for dealing with the 16% loss in income created by the agreement with government to freeze the licence fee until 2017. Two thousand job losses were announced coupled with cuts to staff terms and conditions and cuts to a range of output under the banner - Delivering Quality First.
BECTU believes that unchanged the proposals will destroy quality at the BBC rather than deliver it. The union is campaigning to persuade the BBC to re-think its plans.
BECTU members have objected strongly to the proposed move of production from Birmingham to Bristol which seems very likely to cost the BBC money rather than making any savings.
Meanwhile the union has also slammed the BBC’s efforts to become less London- centric.
BECTU said:"The BBC claims it is becoming less London–centric but despite this there are deep cuts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The English Regions are also facing budget cuts and will be struggling to deliver quality programmes."
The BBC however has said that they had to agreed a new tough but realistic licence fee settlement with the Government to freeze the licence fee for a further four years to April 2017 and with it they have to take on new obligations.
"To bring expenditure in line with income we will therefore need to find new efficiency savings," said BBC Director-General Mark Thompson.
Thompson continued:"We want to continue to prioritise investment in content which means we will have to lose some jobs, although in some areas savings will come through improvements in the way we do things, through technology or through investment choices.
"We will reduce spending on running costs. To protect front-line content and services, efficiencies to the cost of running the BBC, including back-office and support functions such as HR and finance are greater than for content areas. We have already announced our plans to cut Senior Manager numbers and paybill even further."
"We will seek to reduce licence fee collection costs even further and maximise commercial revenues within the clear boundaries we have set. Despite this we will have to do fewer things better in content areas, and we will work hard to focus and ensure we do this without affecting quality wherever possible," concluded Thompson.
However with the BBC taking steps away from radio cuts – BECTU and others in the industry are wondering where the money will be then saved.
With the Danny Baker Show live on BBC London,one of the cuts already made in October, it leaves the union on tender hooks.
BECTU said:"The BBC is now appearing to have second thoughts about forcing through drastic cuts in local radio but according to the union it would seem that funds can only be found to be put back into local radio if they are cut from somewhere else."

Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

17/04/2023
Ikegami Announces Addition To Its Broadcast-Quality Camera Systems
Ikegami has announced a major addition to its line of broadcast-quality camera systems. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami’s Central Hall booth C38
12/03/2024
Ikegami USA To Display Range Of Broadcast Quality Camera Systems
Celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, Ikegami USA is to demonstrate the latest versions of its wide range of broadcast quality camera systems an
26/09/2023
Ateme Behind Viacom18’s Top Video Quality And Immersive Sound Experience
Ateme has announced it was behind the top-quality video and immersive audio experiences delivered in 17 languages by Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. during t
03/03/2023
ITV Adds Resi To Its Media For Quality Portfolio
ITV is adding architectural tech company Resi to its Media for Equity portfolio in its first investment of 2023. As part of ITV Adventures Invest, its
13/04/2016
Production News : Nominations Announced For RTS Scotland Awards 2016
The Royal Television Society (RTS) has announced the nominations for this year's RTS Scotland Awards 2016. The awards cover all forms of production in
06/02/2018
Nominations For RTS Television Journalism Awards 2018 Announced
The Royal Television Society (RTS) has announced the nominations for the RTS Television Journalism Awards 2018. The awards ceremony, sponsored by Gues
11/04/2017
RTS Announce Scotland Awards 2017
The Royal Television Society (RTS) has announced the nominations for the RTS Scotland Awards 2017. The awards cover all forms of production in Scotlan
02/10/2015
RTS North West Announce Awards Shortlist
The Royal Television Society (RTS) North West Centre has announced the shortlist for its annual awards at an event hosted by CBBC presenter Lauren Lay
29/09/2017
RTS Announces Nominations For North West Awards 2017
The Royal Television Society (RTS) North West Centre has announced the nominations for its annual awards, at an event sponsored by Audio Network. Cat
08/06/2023
BBC Appoints Kerensa Samandis As General Manager For BBC iPlayer
The BBC has appointed Kerensa Samanidis as General Manager for BBC iPlayer. Kerensa joins from Channel 4 and will start the new role on 19 June. Repor
04/11/2014
Production News - RTS Announces Craft & Design Awards Shortlist
The Royal Television Society (RTS) has announced the shortlist for the RTS Craft & Design Awards 2013/2014. The winners will be announced at a ceremon
21/05/2015
RTS Announces Winners Of Scotland Awards 2014
The Royal Television Society (RTS) has announced the winners of the RTS Scotland Awards 2014. Chaired by April Chamberlain, the awards cover all forms
13/04/2005
Unions poised to begin strike ballot over BBC cutbacks
Bectu, the NUJ and Amicus are poised to begin a vote for industrial action after BBC redundancy talks reached deadlock yesterday. Formal notice of a s
22/11/2023
BBC Two And BBC Music Announce Cher Meets Rylan
BBC Two and BBC Music will deliver a Christmas present to viewers in the festive form of Cher Meets Rylan in December, which sees legendary singer and
24/05/2002
BBC's business-to-business broadband capability launched
BBC Worldwide, the BBC’s main commercial arm, have launched BBC Preview – the first business-to-business broadband application that allows internation