The BBC has announced plans to ax some of its linear channels as it looks to make further savings following the decision to freeze the license fee.

As part of its plans, the broadcaster plans to stop broadcasting smaller linear channels, such as CBBC and BBC Four, “after the next few years”.

It also intends to create a single, 24-hour TV news channel serving UK and international audiences, called BBC News, which it says will offer greater amounts of shared content, but “maintain the ability to offer separate broadcasts depending on what’s happening at home and abroad”.

The corporation has also set out an ambition to reach 75 per cent of BBC viewers through iPlayer each week; and intends to offer viewers new on-demand content and formats for news and current affairs. It will ask Ofcom to remove regulatory restrictions on iPlayer to expand boxsets and archive content.

In a speech to BBC staff, director general Tim Davie said: “This is our moment to build a digital-first BBC. Something genuinely new, a Reithian organization for the digital age, a positive force for the UK and the world.

“Driven by the desire to make life and society better for our license fee payers and customers in every corner of the UK and beyond,” added Davie. “They want us to keep the BBC relevant and fight for something that in 2022 is more important than ever.

“To do that we need to evolve faster and embrace the huge shifts in the market around us.”

Work will start immediately, with further details to be announced in the coming months, including consultations with staff.

Davie added: “I believe in a public service BBC for all, properly funded, relevant for everyone, universally available, and growing in the on-demand age. This plan sets us on that journey.”

This article originally appeared on sister brand TVBEurope.

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Broadcasters has told the FCC it would be willing to compromise in its request that the commission reserve a small portion of the 6GHz spectrum band for licensed mobile operations aka "broadcast auxiliary service" (BAS) band used to cover live events and breaking news. 

In a letter to the commission, the association said such a move would help protect broadcasters from interference as the FCC moves to open the band to unlicensed wireless devices and that it would also bring the U.S. policy in line with Ofcom (the U.K.’s equivalent of the FCC), which has set aside 55 MHz at the top of the band for licensed use for electronic newsgathering (to which Ofcom refers as “Programme Making and Special Events”).

“While NAB has proposed that the Commission reserve 80 MHz of spectrum for licensed mobile operations, which would leave 1120 MHz for unlicensed operations, reserving just 55 MHz would have the benefit of harmonizing the use of the band internationally,” NAB said. “55 MHz would provide two full 25 MHz channels for electronic newsgathering operations, plus a 5 MHz guard band. This approach would resolve the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia’s remand of the Commission’s 6 GHz order while also providing regulatory certainty for potential unlicensed users of the band.”

NAB stressed the importance of reserving the spectrum in light of current events. 

“Journalism, including live coverage of events as they unfold, has never been more important,” it told the commission. “Access to spectrum is an indispensable component of broadcasters’ ability to provide high-quality and real-time coverage of history as it unfolds. We urge the Commission to support broadcast journalism by considering a reasonable compromise that will help ensure that broadcasters are able to continue to perform their vital work.”

LONDON—Ofcom’s latest Media Nations report has found that 38% of viewers who watch content online say they “can’t imagine watching broadcast TV in five years time.”

The figure is among a number of key findings in the report, which looks at the state of U.K. TV viewing in 2019.

The report also found around half of U.K. homes now subscribe to a streaming service.

The number of viewers signed up to the most popular platforms—Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Now TV—increased from 11.2 million in 2018 to 13.3 million in 2019.

Ofcom also found that while traditional viewing still amounts for 69% of TV watching time, that figure is rapidly declining. U.K. viewers are currently watching on average 3 hours and 12 minutes of traditional TV a day, 11 minutes less than 2018 and 50 minutes less than in 2010.

Daily viewing of streaming services increased by seven minutes in 2018, to 26 minutes, while viewing of YouTube increased by six minutes, to 34 minutes. For the first time, young people now spend more than an hour on YouTube every day (64 minutes, up from 59 minutes).

Two in five U.K. adults now consider online video services to be their main way of watching TV and film.

The report is available to read on Ofcom’s website.

ALAMEDA, CA.—The BCC has adopted the Clear-Com Communications FreeSpeak II wireless communications system as part of a major replacement project at New Broadcasting House in London, Salford Quays and a dozen other sites.

The BBC issued a request for proposal earlier in 2018 to replace extensive wireless audio systems following regulator Ofcom’s announcement of a reduction of 700 MHz spectrum for Programme Making and Special Event (PMSE) users beginning in May 2020.

First up will be 12 studios at New Broadcasting House, which will be followed by two studios in Salford Quays and 10 English Regions sites. BBC’s Parliament studio at Millbank and Academy facilities at Evesham will also get new equipment.

Every studio will be equipped with its own base station and the necessary number of beltpacks and antennas required at each location. This approach was deemed more cost-effective, easier and better suited to a fast-paced broadcast environment than a matrix system, Clear-Com said.

More information is available on the Clear-Com Communications website.