BBC Director General Matt Brittin has warned that due to financial constraints and changing audience habits, some of the corporation’s channels and radio stations may have to close. The BBC is aiming for £500 million in savings and Brittin emphasized the need to adapt to on-demand consumption trends rather than maintaining traditional broadcasting methods. He stated, "we wouldn't guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever," indicating potential further cuts beyond those already announced, such as the cancellation of shows like Blankety Blank and Live At The Apollo.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-25,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Matt Brittin, the director general of the BBC, has warned that some radio stations and TV channels may need to close due to financial constraints and changing audience habits. In an interview for BBC One's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Brittin stated that the corporation needs to make significant savings of £500 million by 2028/29, with around 2,000 jobs expected to be cut. He emphasized that the traditional broadcasting model is outdated compared to how audiences are now consuming content through on-demand services like iPlayer. Brittin also mentioned he would not rule out experimenting with AI-generated presenters for future programmes and noted that a new charter could offer clearer long-term funding decisions in 18 months' time.
Written for “BBC Funding Crisis Threatens Closures” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
- Published
The BBC's financial situation and changing audience habits "may well mean" some channels and radio stations have to close so resources can be invested in on-demand services, its director general has said.
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general → publish → services
As the BBC seeks £500m savings, Matt Brittin told BBC One's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that "we wouldn't guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever".
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programme → seek → Kuenssberg
He said: "The tight financial situation means that we're having to look at some of those decisions a bit sooner than we might like."
Audience behaviour is also rapidly changing, he said. "If most of an audience is getting things on demand, we have to look the value and the cost of all of those different services."
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we → say → services
'We're locked into yesterday's model'
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We → lock → model
Brittin said his focus when making savings was to "minimise the impact on audience".
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focus → say → audience
He explained: "We might have some channels and services where maybe 100,000 people are watching the broadcast service but 500,000 are getting those programmes on iPlayer.
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500,000 → explain → iPlayer
"When's the right time to migrate that service fully to being on-demand?
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time → migrate → demand
And part of my job is to safeguard value for money for the licence fee payer.
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part → safeguard → payer
"
The BBC should go "in different ways to reach audiences and we're locked into yesterday's model of how people consume content, and actually the audience is always already living in tomorrow's world", he said.
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he → go → world
In recent months, the BBC has announced a series of closures of jobs and programmes including Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind, Live At The Apollo and Football Focus, and further cuts are expected.
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cuts → announce → Apollo
Brittin took over as BBC director general in May after a decade as president of Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Brittin → take → Europe
Asked by Kuenssberg if he would allow a programme to be made and presented by AI, Brittin replied: "I would do, within guardrails."
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I → ask → guardrails
He added: "We want to experiment with this technology and understand what it can and can't do, but I'm here because I believe in human creativity.
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I → add → creativity
"I don't think anything we do should be replaced by AI.
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we → think → AI
I think there are lots of places where AI can help us make the licence fee go further, but also help us in our decision-making and creativity.
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fee → think → making
He also warned of the danger of a handful of tech companies having too much control over information in the future.
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handful → warn → future
So I think there's a danger that six companies will control access to information in future and the creation of information and misinformation," he said.
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he → think → information
"Six companies, none of them European, let alone British.
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none → let → them
Asked if he trusted big tech companies he replied: "There's a lot of platforms out there, so I wouldn't trust any platform innately.
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I → ask → platform
"And I think what you do is you keep under review how those things work and whether your content can show up in the right place and fulfil its mission.
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content → think → mission
I think the BBC and our apps and services should be the antidote to the algorithm.
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BBC → think → algorithm
Everywhere else you go is driven by some commercial interest."
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you → go → interest
The full interview will be broadcast BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, on 27 September, at 09:00 BST.
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interview → broadcast → BST
The Aporia
