BBC4 could launch as global streamer

The BBC is weighing up creating a global SVoD featuring the best of BBC4’s content, and wants to pivot towards making fewer hours of original programmes as cuts bite.

Off the back of the revelation that BBC3 may be reinstated as a linear channel, the corporation used today’s (20 May) Annual Plan 2021/21 to mount the case for potential commercial opportunities from creating such a BBC4 streamer, which would “take our strength in specialist factual to the world stage”.

There was no more detail about the radical idea, but such a move could have been the driving force behind channel editor Cassian Harrison’s recent nine-month attachment to BBC Studios, where he is heading up commissioning for the producer/distributor’s suite of global, commercial channels.

BBC2 controller Patrick Holland is temporarily overseeing BBC4 and the Annual Plan said that BBC2 will now “be enriched by taking the best of BBC4’s originations, giving these programmes a bigger shop window”.

Broadcast reported recently on sector-wide fears that Harrison’s move could spell the end for BBC4 as a linear channel but the BBC is insistent that it will stay on the EPG for the time being.

Pressure on first-run hours

Today’s 78-page Annual Plan also revealed the BBC has begun speaking to Ofcom about loosening its programming quotas and conditions, especially around first-run originations.

The corporation has already issued a £125m savings plan, as delays to news team redundancies and over-75 licence fee payments bite. It said that “in these circumstances, the BBC’s strategy is necessarily to produce fewer hours of high-quality, distinctive and innovative programmes to maximise the impact of reducing spend”.

Spend on TV content for the 2020/21 financial year is forecast to dip by 7.5% to £1.4bn, although the Plan no longer breaks budgets down by channel.

There will be more “pan-BBC and pan-platform commissioning”, with the BBC citing the success of podcast/TV hits such as Brexitcast (now Newscast) and the Match of the Day podcast, along with Strictly Come Dancing’s social offerings.

BBC3, however, is in line to at-least double its current £40m budget to focus on a wider roster of tentpole scripted and entertainment hits, having achieved record viewing figures in recent weeks. A return to linear is also being mooted after four years as an online-only channel.

“Young audiences continue to use the BBC in great number and we have a great opportunity to try to convert that reach into a valued daily habit,” added the Plan.

The BBC used BBC3’s success to illustrate how it is addressing Ofcom’s demands last year for it to improve its offering for 16-34s, along with better representing the UK in its entirety.

It also pointed to the expansion of iPlayer, which has 36% more hours in its catalogue than this time last year, and audio platform BBC Sounds.

Director general Tony Hall said: “We have seen a huge leap in the usage of our services [since lockdown], particularly among young people.

“The digital improvements we’ve made over the past year mean the BBC is well placed to embrace the future. We can now give audiences the BBC they want - a better iPlayer with more quality programmes available for longer, and a BBC Sounds that is innovating and performing.”

A planned nations and regions push will also commence as the organisation seeks to “expand commissioning footprint” outside of London in a range of genres.

A clutch of Scottish indies led by former STV Productions head Alan Clements recently urged Ofcom to demand the BBC install a set number of commissioners in all four nations.

The BBC will issue more information around diversity plans in a briefing tomorrow with Hall and UN deputy director general Amina J Mohammed, which is being overseen by new creative diversity director June Sarpong.

The Annual Plan outlined a two-year strategy, but the BBC stressed that the true financial impacts of the Covid-19 crisis are yet to have emerged, with more information on this due to be published in the autumn.

“How quickly we can implement our strategy to reshape our content and services will be guided by both the severity and duration of the ongoing crisis – particularly by how quickly we can restart effective production within key genres,” added the Plan.