The BBC wants to be more flexible when covering sport on BBC Radio 5 Live, make changes to national and regional programmes and cut live music quotas for Radio 2.
Broadcast regulator Ofcom has put the BBC’s plans up for consultation.
Currently, the BBC is subject to a range of quotas that dictates schedules across BBC services.
Following the end of the English regional programme We Are England and the closure of local TV news services serving Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, it has asked Ofcom to adjust quotas accordingly. It also wants quotas adjusting to take into account the end of the 7:57am local news during BBC Breakfast and the fact the late local bulletins now start after 10:30pm – just outside of peak-time – following the decision to move the national weather to the end of the main news.
It also wants to invest money in high impact programming from the nations and regions that can be networked. This is expected to led to fewer programmes made specifically to be shown on BBC One and/or BBC Two in the nations.
5 Live’s news and sport mix
Radio 5 Live is currently obliged to spend 75% of its time broadcasting news and current affairs programme. The BBC wants to cut this to 70% to allow it to cover more sport: its says that the quota reduction would allow it potentially to move Formula 1 Qualifying from 5 Live Sports Extra to the main station. It could allow the station to broadcast more sports podcasts. The BBC says the current quota causes problems in ‘sports heavy’ years when multiple major events are taking place, meaning it can’t provide the coverage it would like to before handing over to news and current affairs programmes.
In its request to Ofcom, the BBC says it will increase coordination between Radio 4 and 5 Live, for example scheduling news and current affairs on 4 when 5 Live is carrying sport.
Ofcom is minded to approve the request, as it’s likely to benefit underserved audiences who are more likely to tune in for sport, not news.
Radio 2 Live Music
The BBC wants Ofcom to scrap an annual 260 hour quota for live music, arguing cost pressures mean the majority of live music is in fact repeats of live performances.
Ofcom says live music must be safeguarded on Radio 2, and is proposing a quota of 68 hours a year. That’s the amount of live music output Radio 2 broadcast in 2021/22 when excluding repeats. But it’s more than the 55 hours a year the BBC had wanted.
The consultation runs until 18th January 2023.