The British Broadcasting Corp. announced a massive cutback in its online operations, which will reduce the budget at BBC Online by 25 percent by 2013, and result in the loss of up to 360 jobs.
BBC Online will also double its links to existing Web sites, and it stated that it has no plans to launch a social network, add video-on-demand to its iPlayer offerings, or dive into online-only music offerings.
The complete announcement from the BBC, via paidContent:UK:
The BBC is to reshape BBC Online by 2013 to deliver its public-service mission in the digital age. The reorganization will mean that the service license budget for BBC Online is reduced by one-quarter. It will also require the closure of up to 360 posts.
The new plans, which set a much clearer digital agenda for the BBC, are the first step in the delivery of the BBC’s strategy, “Putting Quality First.” The changes, which have been approved by the BBC Trust, will deliver: a better-quality service based on the BBC’s five editorial priorities; a 25 percent reduction in service license budget and a halving of the number of top-level domains; commitments and clarity on what the BBC will and will not do online; a pledge to engage with the industry twice a year about its plans; and an action to double the number of referrals to external Web sites by 2013-14 to around 22 million each month
