Recommendation 11

The BBC told us that Across the UK only included work to move activities outside the M25 and that it had separate strategies for its related initiatives in local services. We therefore asked the BBC about the potential impact of other change programmes, particularly in audio, that could affect the impact or delivery of Across the UK. The BBC acknowledged that its other change programmes could also affect the impact of Across the UK, but did not provide any further detail on what this looked like in practice or how it was managing this.17 We asked the BBC about the impact of its changes to local radio, including the decision to move quite a lot of content online, given that 80% of BBC local radio listeners are over 55 years old. The BBC explained that it had not cut money from local services, which had a flat budget, but reallocated funds from local radio to online services, so there had been cuts within the budget from one area to another. It said it had not closed any local radio stations but acknowledged it was making changes to programmes and presenters, with more sharing of weekday programmes. It told us that decisions to reallocate money from local radio “are not easy choices … they are incredibly difficult”.18 While the BBC acknowledged the challenge of changing the provision of local radio, it highlighted the need for it to respond to a changing media landscape, with only 15% of the population listening to local radio and mostly listening to news. It told us that even among those aged 65 to 74 years old, the largest consumption was news. The BBC committed to keep all local radio services and all breakfast shows, stating that local radio was “utterly precious” and that it was doing all it could to protect it.19 16 Qq 29, 63–66; C&AG’s Report Figure 3 17 Qq 28–29, 41 18 Qq 29, 31 19 Qq 31–32 12 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK 2 Progress so far Getting back on track