Its now being reported that MAJOR cuts are coming to BBC Scotland and could resulted in BBC2 losing all opt outs, in a bid to save £16m
* River city cut back to 40 weeks
* BBC2 will now feature all network programmes, with No opt outs
* BBC1 Could now have more opts to try and fit in some shows which get moved ( and not axed)
There has been and will continue to be a lot of speculation from "Inside Sources" about Delivering Quality First and what will be cut. A similar story appeared in the Guardian on Monday about how BBC local radio will be 'slashed'. Nothing has been announced formally, nothing is likely to be announced until October apparently, so while no area of the BBC is immune to cuts it's too early to assume that what's in the papers is right.
The idea of BBC 2 being networked was indeed talked about as part of the DQF process, but given that a lot of opted national programming (from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) is on BBC-2 and wouldn't transfer easily to BBC-1 (I'm thinking Newsnight Scotland in particular here) I can't see it happening without a very big fight.
BBC2 Scotland has always been on odd second rate service. I presume if they did scrap / move the opts they'd save money on transmission costs although of course there would then be the issue of the "Except in Scotland" trails returning.
Would axing BBC2 Scotland (and I guess possibly BBC2 NI/Wales) actually save much cash though considering they're set up already - and it's not like the English regions that by having just one they saved a dozen or so channels on Sky.
:-(
A former member
Good number of opts are in fact for Gaelic programmes, but could most of the (English) BBC scotland two programmes be moved to BBC Scotland? I say yes, with only Newsnight staying.
it does mean it will have to take control for T IN THE PARK, arts shows, sport and many other things . I do agree any moves for many cuts may get strong reactions
Its now being reported that MAJOR cuts are coming to BBC Scotland
Every part of the BBC has to make 20% cuts, it's not just Scotland!
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Its BBC london fault for this mess, some of the network have no bearing for most people up north.
I'm not sure what you mean, but ultimately it's the government's budget cuts that are the cause of the cuts at the BBC. As Deejay says there's been lots of speculation about the cuts that are coming but nothing is announced yet.
Would axing BBC2 Scotland (and I guess possibly BBC2 NI/Wales) actually save much cash though considering they're set up already - and it's not like the English regions that by having just one they saved a dozen or so channels on Sky.
Set up costs aren't the issue, nor is the cost of an EPG slot - that's small.
There is the cost of actually operating the channel - planning, playout and distribution but the bulk of the savings would be from reducing the number of programmes made.
Its BBC london fault for this mess, some of the network have no bearing for most people up north.
I'm not sure what you mean, but ultimately it's the government's budget cuts that are the cause of the cuts at the BBC.
As Deejay says there's been lots of speculation about the cuts that are coming but nothing is announced yet.
Trouble is BBC London idea of improving the opt out of BBC Scotland is to Ship up Network shows, instead of creating proper Scottish show for the network.
As it stands, Glasgow makes Documentaries, Comedies, Sport, music and River city, but no other dramas.
They could scrap River City completely and use the money elsewhere. Personally I don't have an issue with less opt outs or none on BBC two. BBC Scotland has been getting away with terrible low rate stereotypical programmes for years. BTW why on earth are they showing The Culture Show at unearthly hours?
I wish they'd scrap their low rent opt of Children in Need. It's embarrassing and they always managed to cut anything decent from London in half to cut to some prat in a kilt sitting in beans. IIRC it used to be so cheap they didn't even bother making a set for it, just putting Live & Kicking's Glasgow set back up.
They could also scrap Newsnight Scotland and turn Reporting Partick, sorry I mean Scotland into a serious news programme and not a news magazine with fifteen minutes of football news...