According to a plan to reduce expenses and switch to digital platforms, the BBC World Service will lay off almost 400 employees, the British institution revealed on Thursday.
The BBC stated that as part of larger cuts of 500 million pounds, its global service needed to save 28. 5 million pounds ($31 million).
The BBC World News Channel and the network’s local British channel will be combined, and the new channel will debut in April 2023, according to plans made public by the network at the end of July.
Currently airing in 40 languages, the BBC World Service receives over 364 million weekly viewers.
However, the corporation claims that audience preferences are shifting and that more people are receiving news online, so switching to digital first makes financial sense, particularly given the high operational costs.
The corporation stated in an online statement that “today’s offerings imply a total net closure of 382 employees.”
Azerbaijani, Brazilian, Marathi, Mundo, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese are among the eleven language services that are primarily digital only.
Additionally, services in seven languages—Chinese, Gujarati, Igbo, Indonesian, Bidjin, Urdu, and Yoruba—will join the digital services only under the restructuring plans.
If the suggestions are accepted by the workers and unions, broadcasting in Arabic, Farsi, Kyrgyz, Hindi, Bengali, Chinese, Indonesian, Tamil, and Urdu will end.
The British corporation claims that no language services will stop, although certain production facilities will relocate outside of London.
The Korean, Bengali, and Thai services will all shift to Seoul, Bangkok, and Dhaka, respectively.
According to the BBC, Nairobi will be the broadcast location for Focus on Africa.
With viewership more than doubling since 2018, the BBC’s director of global service, Lillian Landor, declared that there was a “compelling case” for extending digital services.
She continued, “The public’s access to news and material is changing, and it’s getting harder to reach and engage readers around the globe with trustworthy journalism.
The UK’s licence fees, which are now 159 for colour TV and are paid by the family when they purchase a TV, support BBC World Service.
In what was perceived as an attack on a prominent British institution, the government announced a freeze on licence fees earlier this year. However, ministers later claimed the funding mechanism needed to be updated due to technological advancements.
such as the Arab radio station. BBC reports the elimination of 382 positions.
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