BBC staff are concerned that the corporation’s director general Matt Brittin will announce next week the closure of BBC Three and BBC Scotland channels as part of a plan to save £500 million and cut up to 2,000 jobs. The move is fueled by financial metrics showing both channels have high costs per viewer relative to their audience reach; for example, BBC Three’s cost per user hour was 26p in 2023-24, compared to 10p for BBC One. Additionally, the recent low viewership of shows on these channels has raised questions about their viability in the current media landscape.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
The BBC has started a redundancy process in its TV and streaming division, heightening staff fears that Matt Brittin will announce the closure of the poorly performing BBC Three and BBC Scotland channels next week.
asserted
Brittin → start → channels
The corporation’s director general, who has repeatedly said that linear TV and radio services may have to shut as audiences move online, is expected to inform staff on Wednesday of the latest stage of a plan to save £500m and shed up to 2,000 jobs.
uncertain
audiences → say → jobs
This week, Dan McGolpin, the director of the BBC iPlayer and Channels division, which includes all the corporation’s TV stations, called for expressions of interest across the department in taking voluntary redundancy.
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which → include → redundancy
In an email he said the plan to “mitigate the number of [enforced] redundancies” included sounding out staff interest about job-sharing arrangements, a reduction in hours, and “relocating to another BBC base across the UK”.
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plan → say → UK
The move has fuelled speculation that the BBC is about to take the two channels online-only, according to sources, as Brittin focuses on cutting back on TV and radio services and content that delivers the least value for money.
uncertain
that → fuel → money
“It is no secret that BBC Scotland and BBC Three are very expensive on a cost-per-viewer basis – a key metric being looked at – and they clearly haven’t achieved what was hoped,” said one insider.
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insider → look → basis
It would be the second time BBC Three has been taken off linear broadcast.
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Three → take → broadcast
The youth-focused channel – which launched in 2003 and generated hits including Gavin and Stacey, Fleabag, Killing Eve and the lockdown hit Normal People – moved online-only in 2016 to save costs.
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which → focus → costs
Since making a comeback to linear TV in 2022, it has struggled as audiences increasingly drift to streaming TV and video platforms such as YouTube.
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audiences → make → YouTube
BBC Three recently announced it was canning the high-profile RuPaul’s Drag Race UK owing to financial pressures.
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it → announce → pressures
On Tuesday, the channel’s highest-rating show was Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, which was broadcast in a primetime 9pm slot but only managed an average audience of 74,000.
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which → rat → 74,000
Typically about 4% of the UK population watch the channel live in a week.
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% → watch → week
Its cost per user hour was 26p in 2023-24 and 18p in 2024-25, the last year the BBC broke out statistics for individual services.
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BBC → break → services
This compares with 10p for BBC One that year, 9p for BBC Two and 6p for BBC Four.
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This → compare → BBC
BBC Three’s budget was doubled to about £80m when it returned to linear TV, rising to £90m in 2023-24, but it was cut to £66m in 2024-25.
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it → double → 2024
A similar online-only fate is looming for the BBC Scotland television channel, which was launched in 2019 as a dedicated outlet for Scottish programming, separate to the Gaelic-language BBC Alba.
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which → loom → Alba
According to the BBC’s latest annual report to 31 March just 12% of people in Scotland watch the channel live.
uncertain
% → accord → channel
That compares with 54% of the adult population consuming BBC Scotland content each week across BBC TV/iPlayer, BBC Radio and BBC Online.
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That → compare → iPlayer
The BBC Scotland TV channel had a budget of £42m in 2024-25, while its cost per user hour was 13p.
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cost → have → hour
“If most of an audience is getting things on demand, we have to look at the value and the cost of all of those different services,” Brittin told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
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Brittin → get → programme
“When’s the right time to migrate that service fully to being on-demand?
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time → ’ → demand
And part of my job is to safeguard value for money for the licence fee payer.”
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part → safeguard → payer
In June, the BBC announced plans to cut 60 jobs in Scotland, to save £10m.
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BBC → announce → 10
The BBC Scotland channel has received about £250m in funding since its launch but has failed to attract large audiences.
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channel → receive → audiences
Its flagship news magazine programme, The Nine, was scrapped two years ago after some episodes drew as few as 1,700 viewers.
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episodes → scrap → viewers
One source believes that completely shutting the TV channel would be too politically difficult for the BBC, and that an online-only future would be a cost-effective and acceptable solution.
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future → believe → BBC
Brittin has also suggested radio services could be axed, having already announced that between 350 and 400 hours of audio content will be cut by the end of the next financial year.
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hours → suggest → year
The corporation has already made a number of cost-saving announcements, including permanently reducing the presenter roster on Radio 4’s Today after the departure of Amol Rajan.
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corporation → make → Rajan
It also axed the evening news programme The World Tonight after more than 50 years.
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It → ax → years
In 2010, Mark Thompson, then director general, proposed shutting the Asian Network and 6 Music.
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Thompson → propose → Network
Ultimately both survived following a backlash, although the Asian Network was relocated to Birmingham last year and had its dedicated news bulletins replaced by Newsbeat two years ago.
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bulletins → survive → Newsbeat
The BBC said it did not comment on speculation.
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it → say → speculation
The Aporia
