Journalists fear more redundancies as BBC Scotland closes its TV channels

by BILL HEANEY

Concern for their jobs has been mounting amongst staff at the BBC, which has announced at last plans to close its Scotland linear TV station as it seeks to make £500m savings.

The channel, which started in February 2019, will move to BBC iPlayer in spring next year, although its nightly News at Seven programme will shut down.

The change is expected to see about 10 news gathering posts cut in addition to the 60 BBC Scotland announced earlier this year, and who have left Pacific Quay without fuss apart from a few familiar faces who are clinging on to their jobs.

Director of BBC Scotland, Hayley Valentine, said: “Against the backdrop of significant financial challenges, we must focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact for audiences.”

The BBC said a wide range of its programming currently shown on the linear TV channel would be available online or on BBC One or BBC Two in Scotland.

Shows include Scotland’s Home of the Year, Murder Case, Inside Barlinnie, the Scottish Cup Final and Hogmanay.

The broadcaster’s SPFL Championship matches on Friday evenings will move to BBC Two in Scotland.

In other changes, the corporation said BBC Three and Radio Four Extra would be moving online.

A spokesperson for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which is also fighting redundancies at commercial station Scottish Television, said it has asked the UK chancellor John Healey to intervene urgently to “prevent further damaging cuts” and called on BBC management to find alternative savings.

The spokesperson added: “These are worrying proposals for the future of public service broadcasting in Scotland, and would see fewer journalists producing less news at a time when quality trusted news is needed more than ever.”

Scotland’s Culture Secretary Màiri McAllan, pictured below left,  said the Scottish government strongly opposed the “wholly unacceptable” proposals.

She added: “This represents a significant blow to our media landscape and is the latest example of a long-standing pattern of BBC underinvestment in Scotland, raising serious questions about the broadcaster’s commitment to Scottish audiences and the creative sector, and its public service obligations to serve all parts of the UK fairly and equitably.”

Decline in licence fee payers

Last month, new BBC Director General Matt Brittin said given current finances and changing audience habits it “may well mean” some channels and radio stations close so resources can be invested in on-demand services.

Brittin told BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that “we wouldn’t guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever”.

The BBC previously announced it would cut between 1,800 and 2,000 – almost one in 10 jobs – as part of measures to make £500m savings in the next two years.

In June, 550 job cuts were announced in news, nations and TV and radio content as part of its first stage of cuts.

In recent months, the BBC announced a series of closures of programmes including Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind, Live At The Apollo and Football Focus.

Cuts to radio programmes have also been announced.

The broadcaster, which has about 21,500 full-time employees, gets most of its income from the licence fee, but the number of TV licences sold has been declining in recent years.

Journalists who work on BBC Scotland’s news, sports and politics programmes are now waiting for the management to tell them where the jobs axe is going to fall.

Plans for a dedicated BBC Scotland TV channel were announced in 2017 by then BBC Director General Tony Hall.

He said the “bold, creative and ambitious” channel would replace BBC Two Scotland as the main home for Scottish-produced programmes.

It gained Ofcom approval and was launched in February 2019 with the investment of 80 journalism jobs.

It was fronted by flagship news programme The Nine, which covered Scottish, UK and international stories from a Scottish perspective.

The channel also became home to Scottish drama, comedy, documentaries, current affairs and sport, including Debate Night and Scottish national team football games.

In 2024, five years after it went on air, the BBC announced plans to scrap The Nine alongside entertainment news show The Edit and weekly news review Seven Days.

It was replaced by a shorter 30-minute news programme, News at Seven, as well as extended versions of Reporting Scotland.

Valentine, who was launch editor of The Nine, said it was “always sad” to see programmes come to an end.

She praised staff by saying: “I am extremely proud of the News at Seven team and everything they have delivered since launching.

“Our teams are highly skilled, and we will continue to evolve our news and current affairs offer to reflect the changing way people consume journalism today.”

Valentine added that by “continuing the channel on BBC iPlayer, we can ensure Scottish content thrives in a digital environment”.

“BBC Two in Scotland, alongside BBC One Scotland, will maintain a strong and distinctive Scottish presence on linear television,” she said.

BBC Scotland’s Head of News Howard Simpson said: “Losing one of our programme brands is hard.

“Reporting Scotland: News at Seven succeeds in bringing our audience closer to the day’s news and has been incredibly effective at adding context from experts and from a first-person experience.

“The team who work on the show bring energy and creativity and a fresh look at our TV offer. I am extremely proud of what they continue to accomplish.”

BBC Director General Brittin told staff on Tuesday: “We need to make every pound work harder for audiences as we respond to the immediate cost pressures and reinvent the BBC for a changing world. We all know that means tough choices.”

There is expected to be a torrent of criticism in the world of Scottish politics against these channel closures and redundancies, where the SNP frequently criticises the BBC and demonstrates against its coverage, which they perceive as poor to painfully inadequate, especially as they have recently stepped up their campaign for Scotland’s independence.

Since the newspaper industry, local and national in Scotland, is on its knees, with one closure after another in the local weekly sector, staff, particularly journalists, are finding it almost impossible to find new employment; there are very real fears for democracy in Scotland.

Newspapers, TV and radio stations increasingly depend on spin doctors – public relations officials – to provide them with one-sided stories and lack the staff to hold power to account in local and national government.

Only yesterday, a citizen of Paris, where there has been destruction by fire and looting of the shops in the French city’s main streets during protests, told a TV reporter who asked him what could be done to curtail this behaviour: “I am at a loss to know. There is no way to get a message across to these rioters. Young people don’t read newspapers anymore.”