BBC 4 to be axed?

I doubt the politicos would appreciate being relegated to a lower number down the EPG for DP and Newsnight.

Now my turn...if things have gotta give...all BBC TV channels would be in English only so no BBC Alba etc...

BBC1: As now, General Entertainment Channel.
BBC2: The alternative BBC channel mixing content that currently screens on BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4.
BBC News: As now
BBC Parliament: As now
CBBC: As now
CBeebies: As now
BBC Online: Offering more new online only shows than current. More archive content too.

BBC Radio 1: As present except with extra content aimed at 1Xtra's audience.
BBC Radio 2: As present except with extra programming aimed at 6 Music's audience.
BBC Radio 3: As present.
BBC Radio 4: As present.
BBC Radio 5 Local: A new FM/Digital based version of Radio 5 Live with Local opt-outs.

BBC World Service: Some Asian Network programming merged into the BBC World Service stations. BBC World News merged with BBC News, with regular international updates amongst the UK based programming.

Disclaimer: I know this isn't perfect...although the BBC has it's faults, I feel for the people having to make cuts for real (though they are probably getting paid well for it!).

I think any further scheme to close linear channels and replace them with online versions needs to come with a big caveat of only happening once there is universal access to affordable high speed broadband.

Whatever anyone thinks of the rest of your suggestions, there's no way CBeebies would be cut down - it's incredibly popular (more so than CBBC?).

Sadly I think there is a chance at least one of the Children's channels will be closed...though it doesn't make sense (especially with CBeebies).

And frankly you could make the argument that (of the wider population, at present) it's the elderly and very young who benefit most from linear TV as a delivery mechanism over more complicated on-demand/streaming/device-based service.

I do wonder how much the BBC could save by removing certain assumptions - like that main TV channels need to be 24/7.

I challenge anyone on this forum to defend the continuing commission of Doctors, for example. Especially when you consider the BBC could go back to the beginning and get the 13:40 slot filled at a fraction of the cost of producing new episodes, which are lazily written and painfully repetitive in nature. I suspect if BBC One's daytime schedule (excluding news, pre-17:00) was exclusively repeats of both recent and archive programming from BBC One, Two and Four in prime time viewing figures wouldn't fall that much. And provided enough people were watching to justify the cost of transmission, I don't see how the BBC can make the argument to save dreadful daytime content simply because it's highly watched.

I can easily imagine a scenario in which BBC Two becomes BBC One's more serious counterpart, taking on large sections of BBC News/BBC World News content between 9:00 and 17:00, with programmes like Question Time, (at an earlier time) and Panorama from BBC One, and the better commissions from BBC World News. BBC Two and BBC News effectively share content (and production costs) for most of the day when BBC News is most watched, more easily justified and where breaking news is most frequent, and BBC News morphes into BBC World News the rest of the time. And BBC Two shuts down between midnight and 9am/ simulcasts World News.

In return, BBC One should become a more upmarket version of what it and BBC Two already do. You can keep Eastenders and the One Show, but need to justify what it is Holby City achieves that Casualty doesn't (or vice versa). I agree with John Wittingdale (agh) that programmes like The Voice don't belong on the BBC - for me, because it neither satisfies a 'doing something different, doing something well, or doing something really loved' criteria. Whereas Strictly Come Dancing and GBBO are programmes that simply wouldn't have been commissioned (in a recognisable form) by rival channels, and would likely be cited by many viewers as reasons to support the BBC. At the same time the BBC needs to feel more confident putting programmes like Mock the Week and QI - indisputably successes and value for money - on BBC One and not shy away because average ratings may fall. In an age of on-demand & PVR delivery it would be much better to think of BBC One and Two as the principal commissioning and showcasing of programmes rather than the ultimate determination of success, one principally for entertainment, comedy and drama, the other for news, documentaries and genuinely nice programmes.

What I can't fathom in all of this, however, is the bizarre focus on network news bulletins. If ever there's a broadcast news medium that is gradually becoming increasingly redundant, it's a twenty five minute collection of reports that have been easily accessible for several hours online, on rolling news and - yes Tony Hall - on mobile.

In short, reduce the BBC News Channel's dedicated output to daytime hours only, close BBC Four (and, in the future, CBBC as a linear channel) and rework BBC One and BBC Two to seriously bolster the quality of the BBC's output with a clear mandate for each channel and cutting some of the useless filler better suited to Channel 5.

I think there is a greater chance of them being merged - CBBC could have 0600-0900, CBeebies 0900-1530 and CBBC from 1530 to close maybe with a CBeebies Bedtime hour/halfhour. If one channel had to go, from an economic point of view, it would have to be CBBC which has a budget 3 times that of CBeebies and about 1/3 of the viewers. It would be a real tragedy though to cut one service as children of all ages presumably benefit from advert free television plus the BBC seem to be the only children's TV producers who don't pump out constant cr*p.

Though the question is always asked - during term time (which I know varies across the UK) - who is watching the CBBC channel between 0900 and 1500 (rough estimate of school hours) when its target audience is in school? (I know people can be off school with long term illnesses, or short term, but is this channel aimed at them?)

CBeebies I can understand - it's aimed largely at pre-schoolers - but CBBC? Why does that operate during the day during term time? Surely 1500-1900 and 05/0600-0900 make more sense during weekday term time?

Just ignore the fact it's still the way most people access their news then? Far more popular than the News Channel. ITV News bulletins are also more popular.

I don't see network bulletins leaving our screens for a very long time.

Is there actually evidence for this? I don't think audience figures are any lower for BBC National News Bulletins than they were 10 years ago, particularly not BBC Breakfast which have recently increased (although that is primarily ITV's fault). Likewise BBC News Channel hasn't seen any real reduction in viewers, and there hasn't been a drastic fall in the number of viewers of linear television. This whole linear TV is in decline argument is heavily exaggerated, we must hear the phrase 'the end of television as we know it' as often as we hear 'it's the end of two party politics'. Back in the 1920s national newspapers were worried that the BBC carrying news bulletins would mean an end to newspapers within ten years, millions of newspapers are still sold every day in the UK. Today Broadcast news are worried that the internet will mean the end of them within ten years, I doubt it will. People probably won't be getting their news from Twitter in ten years time as a new social media platform will probably replace it, but I imagine that people will still be getting their news from the BBC.

I agree that there is no real sign of linear decline, although the way we consume television and radio is changing. We still watch linear broadcasts, but also in addition use VOD and IPTV.

Isn't it incredible how many of the money-saving plans posited here are incredibly selfish? I dislike it, so let's get rid of it.