The BBC is targeting a 10% cut to its cost base over the next three years, according to its 2026-2027 annual plan. The British broadcaster acknowledged having to make “difficult decisions” about its future content decisions.
“Continued financial pressures will require further savings, leading to some difficult choices as we reshape the BBC for the future,” the BBC said in its annual plan, which it published Thursday. “These choices, which will be led by focusing on value to audiences whilst continuing to deliver on our public purposes, are expected to impact all areas of our portfolio and will reduce commissioning opportunities.”
The BBC said it hopes to complete the cuts by the time of its 2028-2029 report. The broadcaster did not specify the precise size of its cuts, though its operating costs last year were about $8 billion (£6 billion), indicating it would need to cut about $800 million (£600 million).
“While we will seek efficiency savings where we can, it is also the case that cuts of this magnitude will require us to make difficult decisions about content and services in the future,” the BBC wrote.
“Let’s be clear – the BBC, needed more than ever, is at risk like never before,” outgoing director general Tim Davie said in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “Given financial pressures, infinite choice and changing audience behaviour, the organisation must also make some tough choices in the year ahead to reshape how we operate.”
The report came a day after the BBC officially tapped former Google executive Matt Brittin to succeed Davie next month as the organization’s next director general. Davie resigned last year amid controversy over a misleading editing of a 2024 Donald Trump documentary, which prompted the president’s $10 billion lawsuit.
The BBC confirmed plans last year to cut $130 million in costs, which included layoffs. The goal, chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva wrote to staff, was to make itself “a creative and tech leader in an AI-driven world.“ The BBC had already cut about 2,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, over five years under Davie’s leadership.
