Submission + - BBC to Make Deep Cuts in Internet Services 2
Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times reports that the BBC has yielded to critics of its aggressive expansion, and is planning to make sweeping cuts in spending on its Web site and other digital operations. Members of the Conservative Party, which is expected to make electoral gains at the expense of the governing Labor Party, have called for the BBC to be reined in and last year James Murdoch criticized the BBC for providing "free news" on the internet making it "incredibly hard for private news organizations to ask people to pay for their news. “After years of expansion of our services in the UK, we are proposing some reductions,” says Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC. The BBC is proposing a 25 percent reduction in its spending on the Web, as well as the closure of several digital radio stations and a reduction in outlays on US television shows. The Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union, which represents thousands of workers at the BBC, says that instead of appeasing critics, the proposed cuts could backfire. “The BBC will not secure the politicians’ favor with these proposals and nor will the corporation appease the commercial sector, which will see what the BBC is prepared to sacrifice and will pile on the pressure for more cuts,” says Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the union."
