Fears that BBC World Service could face another round of savage cuts appear to be coming true, as ministers tell BBC to shave millions off the budget.
- Foreign Office is set to cut funding for the service in the latest Spending Review.
- BBC Director General has previously said the World Service should be fully Government funded.
The BBC has been told to prepare for a sharp cut in World Service funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Tens of millions of pounds look set to be cut from the budget as a result of the latest Government Spending Review.
Fears of a dramatic cut in funding were first raised in March, when the FT reported the FCDO could reduce or completely cut funding for the BBC World Service from as early as next spring.
Now The Guardian has followed up with a report that Foreign Minister David Lammy has asked the BBC to draw up plans to make further cuts, as a result of the Government’s decision to cut foreign aid budgets.
As a result, £70 million a year looks set to be slashed from the World Service FCDO grant, which had only recently been increased to £104 million a year.
According to the most recent BBC Annual Report, covering 2023-24, the BBC spent £233 million on the World Service in addition to the FCDO grant. The BBC Director General Tim Davie most recently spoke of the World Service’s current budget being set at £400 million. He’s gone on record to say he thinks the Government should eventually foot the entire bill for the World Service.
How has the World Service been affected by cuts?
The BBC has already made savage cuts to the World Service, which now operates a very basic service in a number of languages including English. The English language service – once a multi-genre service that included music and drama programmes – is now co-branded ‘BBC News World Service’. That’s a move that could pave the way for the radio service to increasingly become a cost-cutting audio simulcast of the TV channel, similar to GB News and GB News Radio.
It has also cut back on distribution channels and language services. That’s despite fears that Russian and Chinese broadcasters are taking over the void left by the World Service. This includes Russian and Chinese state broadcasters replacing the World Service on its former radio frequencies.
Analysis: The BBC internationally
Any cut to the World Service won’t mean the end of the BBC’s presence around the world. The broadcaster already has a whole range of commercially funded enterprises in markets where it thinks it can make money. As a result, there’s a range of commercial BBC-branded channels in various countries, plus streaming services including BritBox International.
Meanwhile, licence fee payers effectively cross-subsidise the BBC’s international news channel. In 2023, the previously separate UK and international news services were combined. This combined service is then monetised through adverts and distribution deals in various countries around the world. This generates income to offset part of the cost of running BBC News.
The commercially unviable part
That leaves the commercially unattractive part of international broadcasting, which sits under the World Service. This includes expensive to maintain broadcast networks (still including short wave radio in some parts of the world). In addition to World Service English, the BBC is expected to provide services in languages that can’t be operated on a commercial basis. For example, that might include language services where the target audience is of little interest to traditional advertisers or where it might be inappropriate to commercialised content – for example special services into war torn areas. Other commercially unviable services are language services into hostile nations. No-one wanting to do business in those countries would want to advertise on an ‘enemy’ channel.
The question is… should licence fee payers foot the bill, or should the FCDO step up, if it wants those services to exist?
By: Marc Thornham | Image: BBC Newsroom – BBC screenshot.
The main newsroom at New Broadcasting House was billed in 2013 as “the world’s newsroom”, as it brought together newsgathering from the BBC’s UK and global news services. Previously, the BBC World Service was based at Bush House, separate from the UK news services.