【Text/Observer Network Liu Qian】
Recently, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is in a "food shortage" crisis, and the annual billions of pounds of "licensing fees" may be completely cancelled. In this regard, the anxious BBC president Tim Davie warned on the 19th that layoffs would be made to solve the crisis.
According to the British "Times" report, Tim Davy spoke to employees through a video conference on the 19th, saying that because the Johnson government imposed restrictions on the BBC on the "licensing fee" issue, the BBC will face a funding gap of 1.5 billion pounds (about 12.93 billion yuan) in the next 6 years.
Screenshot of the Times report
Tim David said: "I will be blunt – we will reduce the number of people here a little bit and then use the funds in the right place and appropriately." ”
He later added: "At the BBC Public Service, we will not add more manpower. I think we're likely to downsize our staff a little bit. ”
Previously, in order to alleviate the pressure on the national economy under inflation, the British government has asked the BBC to extend the annual licence fee of £159 now charged for two years, during which no price increase is allowed. The government is also considering limiting the increase in fees to below the inflation rate between 2024 and 2027, and eventually eliminating fees altogether after 2027 and moving to other sources of financing.
Employees felt "distraught, frustrated and frustrated" when they heard Tim Davey's speech. One of the employees lamented that the company had never been in such a bad situation.
Tim Davy, President of the British BBC, courtesy of Twitter
Employees are exhausted by the layoffs as the BBC has just completed a £1 billion savings programme and the company's spending over the past decade has actually fallen by 30 per cent, according to people familiar with the matter. In the scheme, all BBC departments have made layoffs, especially the public information sector, which is particularly vulnerable.
In addition to layoffs, many TV shows and services may also "suffer". Tim David said the BBC must adjust its resource layout to focus on audiences moving online. This suggests that the BBC will move away from traditional TELEVISION and radio programmes.
According to the Times reported on the 18th, Tim David said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 that in order to cope with the crisis, the BBC will have to cut programs and services. When it comes to specific plans, David says "everything is on the agenda."
As a long-standing "state-run unit" in the UNITED Kingdom, the BBC's "food shortage" is inseparable from the strong promotion of the British Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.
In fact, since taking office last September, Culture Secretary Doris has been seen as a "nightmare" for the BBC. She has publicly expressed her dissatisfaction with the BBC, bluntly saying that the BBC needs to strengthen itself against competitors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. Then at a Conservative party meeting in October, Doris again mentioned that the BBC needed to make "real change" if it wanted to represent the whole of Britain.
As one of Doris's colleagues put it, "the days of state-run television are over".
"The new generation of 19 to 34 years old is watching YouTube, Netflix and on-demand video, they don't watch the BBC, so they shouldn't be forced to pay... No one wants the screen to be filled with endless American junk shows. ”
This article is an exclusive manuscript of the Observer Network and may not be reproduced without authorization.