BBC to put focus on moving upmarket

In a report to the BBC Trust, the corporation said it wants to reprioritise nearly 600m a year to higher quality content and close 6 Music and the Asian Network.

It also wants to halve the number of sections on its website, close "lower performing sites" and spend 25 per cent less on its online offering.

The closure of teen offerings BBC Switch and Blast! is also recommended.

Spending on imported programmes and films would be reduced by 20 per cent, capping it thereafter at no more than 2.5p in every licence fee pound. Spending on sports rights would be capped at 9p in every licence fee pound.

The BBC said the licence fee would focus on priorities – "the best journalism in the world, inspiring knowledge, music and culture, ambitious UK drama and comedy, outstanding children's content and events that bring communities and the nation together".

Confirmation of the cuts, which had already been leaked, sparked anger among staff, with warnings that hundreds of jobs could now be lost.

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the broadcasting workers' union Bectu, said up to 600 jobs could go. "These cuts are totally unnecessary and are purely politically motivated. It is obvious that the BBC is being bounced by its competitors and by the political climate ahead of the upcoming general election.

"It is not acceptable for the BBC to be offering up services and jobs as some kind of sacrifice ahead of the general election."

Union leaders will meet the BBC's Director-General, Mark Thompson, today, but are already warning of strike action to fight the cuts.

BBC 6 Music is one of the corporation's most successful digital-only stations and the closure plan has already provoked music industry protests.

The proposals were drawn up by the BBC Executive following a challenge from the BBC Trust to carry out a full-scale review of the BBC's strategy.

The BBC said its strategy "includes a full rationalisation of BBC Online". It plans to spend 25 per cent less on the site per year by 2013.

BBC Online will need a new "harder" focus on quality and

distinctiveness, the report said. "All online content should feel justified and purposeful: not extraneous or encyclopaedic, but within a distinct editorial purpose."

Some sites which are currently live will be closed, while others will be consolidated.

BBC director general Mark Thompson said it was too early to say which programmes would be axed as part of the new strategy to focus on distinctive output.

But US imports will feature less on the new-look BBC – spending on imported shows and films will be reduced by 20 per cent to an "all time low" although the likes of Mad Men and The Wire will still have a place.

Spending on children's programming will go up, while international news and daytime will also get more money.

Mr Thompson also said the BBC would look for improvements and changes in daytime, where it wants to see more original drama.

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said: "The public pick up the bill for the BBC and it is right that it constantly evolves to meet their expectations. This strategy review is a key part of that process.

"We welcome the general direction of this report, although we will want to test and consider how it is delivered.

"We are clear it heads towards a more disciplined and sharply- focused BBC. That will mean some difficult choices.

"But we will not shrink from those choices where they are in the interests of licence fee-payers."

The report follows accusations that the BBC has been crowding out the market for its commercial rivals and venturing into areas it should not be entering.

How the corporation will change

BBC1 (44 million weekly viewers, budget 1.39bn, cost per user per hour 6.8p) should expand its "knowledge" output to areas such as history and science. Range and diversity of the channel "must and will be maintained".

BBC2 (32.6 million weekly viewers, budget 570m, cost per user per hour 7.5p) Will be a home for "intelligent and ambitious drama, comedy and factual programming".

Asian Network (0.4 million weekly listeners, budget 12.1m, cost per user per hour 6.9p) To close. The audience is declining and the costs are relatively high.

BBC Online (22.2 million weekly users, costs 177m, cost per user per hour 9.7p) BBC proposes cutting spending by a quarter by 2013, with a corresponding reduction in staffing levels. Number of sections to BBC sites will be halved by 2012.

Radio 6 Music (0.7 million weekly listeners, budget 9m, cost per user per hour 3.4p) To close by end of 2011. It has "relatively few unique listeners".

Switch and Blast!

Teen services will be closed as "neither is reaching its target audience effectively".