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BBC reveal ‘big transformation’ of services

BBC

BBC reveal ‘big transformation’ of services

After years of cut-backs it seems the BBC has found a pot of gold for major changes.

Today the Beeb announced that across the next six years, the broadcaster will relocate its creative and journalistic centre away from London.

The BBC state that will enable them to ‘better reflect, represent, and serve all parts of the country.’ The relocation from London to Salford in a previous effort, with the moving of Childrens BBC and BBC Breakfast has, thus far, been a change of studio with no change of creativity – so the programmes could still be in London and no one would notice.

When BBC Salford was created ATV Today asked the kind of jobs that would be created. The response was that cleaning ops and maintenance management were being created by the new centre – the creatives were just having to ship up and shift off up to Salford from London, making the whole exercise pointless.

“The trouble with this is that you can only pour out of a jug what is in it. The creative world is almost entirely middle class and/or left. That’s the actual problem that causes the disconnect.” – writer Gareth Roberts on Social Media

The BBC Centre in Newcastle Upon Tyne, covers TV regional news across Cumbria, the North East, Northumberland and North Yorkshire.

Despite recent major cut-backs, that saw many popular faces across the Local BBC regions culled a money supply appears to have been discovered to allow the corporation to spend £700m cumulatively across the UK in the next decade to generate opportunities for jobs and training, and this time also, the Beeb note, improve representation on screen too.

“Our mission must be to deliver for the whole of the UK and ensure every household gets value from the BBC. These plans will get us closer to audiences, create jobs and investment, and develop and nurture new talent.

“Over the last year, the BBC – which has been an essential part of the UK’s culture, democracy and creativity for almost a century – has helped inform, educate and entertain all four Nations, as we have collectively faced some of our toughest moments in recent history.

“Now, as we look to the future, we must play our part in supporting social and economic recovery; rebuilding the creative sector and telling the stories that need to be heard from all corners of the UK.” – Tim Davie, BBC Director-General

Plans set out in detail in the Across the UK blueprint also include the BBC adopting the old regional ITV format of having major programming produced across the UK, rather than from London. There will also be a boost to regional news centres with significant parts of BBC News relocating across the UK, ensuring half of their UK-focused story teams will be based around the country.

There will be a ‘Northern’ BBC One tailored for viewers across Yorkshire, North West and North East England including a boost to BBC Local Radio programme – another that had been cut-back drastically in the past fifteen years.

The announcement comes amid increasing distaste with how the BBC is funded with the ‘Defund The BBC‘ campaign continually growing in support of the Beeb losing its licence fee funding.

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