The company, which proposed a merger of its UK and international news channels in May, said the new-look channel would launch next April and be called BBC News. UK viewers will no longer be provided with a domestic rolling news service, including the loss of shows such as Dateline London after 25 years, with the channel featuring a mix of international content as well as “new flagship programs based on high-profile journalists”. . The plans will see a significant reduction in the number of presenters currently working on the BBC News Channel and BBC World, with fewer higher-profile on-screen staff retaining the title of ‘chief presenter’, while correspondents will be given the chance for more presenting time airborne. The BBC’s annual report lists high-profile names such as Clive Myrie, Reeta Chakrabarti, Victoria Derbyshire, Ben Brown and Joanna Gosling – who are collectively paid more than £1m for work at the BBC – as presenters on the BBC News channel. A BBC spokesman said the UK operation would cut 70 jobs, while a further 20 on- and off-screen roles would be created in Washington. The new channel will broadcast from London during the day in the UK and then from Singapore and Washington. The BBC said UK viewers will continue to receive specific content at specific times of the day and during certain high-profile news events, and there will be a production capability for a domestic-only broadcast stream for major UK-specific news events. “The way audiences consume news is changing,” said Naja Nielsen, digital director at BBC News. “We aim to create the best live and breaking video news service in the world – across our websites, our apps, BBC iPlayer and our new TV news channel.” The new channel will remain ad-free in the UK. The BBC’s annual report, published earlier this week, showed that the number of staff working in corporate newsrooms is at its lowest level in a decade. The BBC said the changes would create a “modern, digitally-led and streamlined organization that gets the most value from the license fee and delivers more for the public”. The BBC’s news and current affairs operations, with an annual budget of £314m, have been at the center of several rounds of major cuts in recent years as the company sought savings to balance funding in real terms following license fee settlements with the government. Earlier this year, the government imposed a two-year freeze on the £159 annual license fee until 2024, which the BBC says will mean an extra £285m in annual savings. However, Tim Davie, the director-general of the BBC, is seeking to make £500m of cuts to existing TV and radio services to invest in digital-only initiatives. Davy, who took over from Lord Tony Hall as chief executive in September 2020, has overseen the cut of around 1,200 jobs to date and has said around 1,000 more will go in the coming years. Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, is to launch a consultation on the future of the license fee as a funding mechanism for the corporation after the BBC’s current royal charter ends in 2027. Dorris called the license fee “outdated” and “discriminatory” as all households pay the same amount regardless of income. It has pointed to “fairer” models used in other countries, such as Germany, which imply its connection to council tax. Other alternatives are a voluntary subscription model, such as Netflix uses, which allow advertising or through a blanket broadband levy. The BBC will now begin consultations with affected staff and unions, while Ofcom, the UK’s media regulator, may consider plans to substantially change the two existing news services.
