The BBC has confirmed the closure of BBC Three, BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 4 Extra linear broadcast

[6Foot2]

Link: BBC announces next phase of savings including the closure of linear broadcast services

 

Quote

The BBC has confirmed the closure of BBC Three, BBC Scotland and BBC Radio 4 Extra linear broadcast services in Spring 2027.

 

The BBC needs to make tough decisions due to the sustained financial pressures facing the organisation and must make savings of £500 million by 2028. Today’s changes were announced to staff this morning. It means:

• BBC Scotland will remain a channel on iPlayer. Content will also be available on BBC One and BBC Two in Scotland.
• BBC Three commissions, supported by increased investment in content for younger audiences will be available on BBC iPlayer and on other platforms, including YouTube. 
• Programmes from Radio 4 Extra will be on BBC Sounds - and The Daily Service will be on BBC Sounds and local radio...

[nicholab]

That's disappointing, as that why I got a digital radio all those years ago.

[jmak]

3 hours ago, 6Foot2 said:

Link: BBC announces next phase of savings including the closure of linear broadcast services

 

Doesn't sound like they're saving anything. Sounds like cuts /s

 

Also, what do I listen to now as white noise when The Sunday Service comes on on Radio 4? I can treat any speech programme as background noise and doze off, but Sunday Service has singing and that wakes me up. Normal approach is single button click to R4 extra.

[nicholab]

I enjoy the Sunday Service is nice to listen to Church around the country.

[Fazza]

They need to go back to their core values and services that they offer and this is the first step of doing that as the amount of radio stations they have is out of control.

 

The BBC currently has 13 National Radio Stations that are Free for anyone to listen to since the Radio License was scrapped in the 1970s.

• BBC Radio 1 (Youth and contemporary music)
• BBC Radio 1Xtra (Black contemporary music)
• BBC Radio 1 Anthems
• BBC Radio 1 Dance
• BBC Radio 2 (Adult contemporary music)
• BBC Radio 3 (Classical and jazz)
• BBC Radio 3 Unwind
• BBC Radio 4 (Spoken word, news, and drama)
• BBC Radio 4 Extra (Archive comedy, drama, and speech — scheduled for closure)
• BBC Radio 5 Live (News and sport)
• BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (Additional sports coverage)
• BBC Radio 6 Music (Alternative music)
• BBC 6 Indie Forever

Do we really need all the 'Xtra' ones?  Surely the types of music and programs on them could be on either BBC Sounds or scheduled in to weekly slots on the non Xtra stations?

 

All we really need is BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3. BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live - anything else can go on the BBC Sounds App.

 

They're already scrapping Radio 4 Xtra - oddly enough out of all the radio stations this is the only one I listen to on my drive to work! 🤣

 

I'm not saying the types of music or programs on Radio 6 or the Xtra stations are not important, just that do they really need to be broadcasting 24/7 and that on the main 5 stations there is surely room for a weekly slot for them, if not then BBC Sounds etc.

[6Foot2]

The first (inevitable?) petition has appeared:

 

Link: Save Radio 4 Extra | 38 Degrees

 

It has 196 signatures at the time of posting.

[Fazza]

1 minute ago, 6Foot2 said:

The first (inevitable?) petition has appeared:

 

Link: Save Radio 4 Extra | 38 Degrees

 

It has 196 signatures at the time of posting.

 

The thing is though, Radio 4 Extra has to be the cheapest to run as all it basically does is repeat old shows on a 4 or so hour loop so sometimes you catch the same show going to work as you do going home!!  There's just a continuity announcer between each show which could quite easily be pre-recorded (if it isn't already) so to me it seems like they've picked the station with the least number of staff involved rather than one that would actually save them some real money.

[DavR]

8 hours ago, Fazza said:

They need to go back to their core values and services that they offer and this is the first step of doing that as the amount of radio stations they have is out of control.

 

The BBC currently has 13 National Radio Stations that are Free for anyone to listen to since the Radio License was scrapped in the 1970s.

• BBC Radio 1 (Youth and contemporary music)
• BBC Radio 1Xtra (Black contemporary music)
• BBC Radio 1 Anthems
• BBC Radio 1 Dance
• BBC Radio 2 (Adult contemporary music)
• BBC Radio 3 (Classical and jazz)
• BBC Radio 3 Unwind
• BBC Radio 4 (Spoken word, news, and drama)
• BBC Radio 4 Extra (Archive comedy, drama, and speech — scheduled for closure)
• BBC Radio 5 Live (News and sport)
• BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (Additional sports coverage)
• BBC Radio 6 Music (Alternative music)
• BBC 6 Indie Forever

Do we really need all the 'Xtra' ones?  Surely the types of music and programs on them could be on either BBC Sounds or scheduled in to weekly slots on the non Xtra stations?

 

All we really need is BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3. BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live - anything else can go on the BBC Sounds App.

 

They're already scrapping Radio 4 Xtra - oddly enough out of all the radio stations this is the only one I listen to on my drive to work! 🤣

 

I'm not saying the types of music or programs on Radio 6 or the Xtra stations are not important, just that do they really need to be broadcasting 24/7 and that on the main 5 stations there is surely room for a weekly slot for them, if not then BBC Sounds etc.

 

I'd put in a vote to keep 6 Music on DAB broadcast, because it doesn't easily fold into one of the other identities, but yeah, they are kinda overexposed. I suppose they're fighting to keep the audience on a lot of those channels, but really, the Radio 1 crowd at least, are going to be streamers rather than tied to linear broadcasting, surely.

[DavR]

6 hours ago, Fazza said:

 

The thing is though, Radio 4 Extra has to be the cheapest to run as all it basically does is repeat old shows on a 4 or so hour loop so sometimes you catch the same show going to work as you do going home!!  There's just a continuity announcer between each show which could quite easily be pre-recorded (if it isn't already) so to me it seems like they've picked the station with the least number of staff involved rather than one that would actually save them some real money.

 

Interesting demographic revelation that 4 Extra is a particular high point for EduGeek members 😂

 

IIRC from other radio stations that have failed or been shut down, it's the licensing and national broadcasting costs that are the highest outlay. The staffing and content is a fairly minimal cost in comparison. So I guess it hinges on how many people that station is reaching.