More channels could be axed following the closure of BBC Three and BBC Scotland as the corporation begins its move to an online-only future.
The BBC is poised to shut the two poorly-performing TV channels next week and move their content online, sources claim, as the broadcaster seeks to make £500m in savings and avert a financial crisis. The future of the Radio 4 Extra archive channel is also under scrutiny.
The closures would also kick-start a wider strategy, which could ultimately mean the end of scheduled channels like BBC One, with viewers instead finding programmes on-demand on iPlayer, under genre headings like Drama, Entertainment, News and Sport.
The BBC is cutting spending on new shows by £80m this year, hitting the ability of live TV channels to run a full schedule.
One former senior BBC executive said: “The daytime schedules are filled with repeats and simulcasting the news. The BBC should stop spending on daytime filler shows and concentrate on big programmes for primetime and iPlayer.”
Sources believe announcements on the future of BBC Three and BBC Scotland will be made to staff next Wednesday.
With viewing figures often less than 100,000 people, youth channel BBC Three is one of the broadcaster’s most costly services per-viewer.
Bosses argue that its 16-34 aged target audience is already more likely to find its programmes through iPlayer and YouTube. BBC Three has already axed for cost-cutting reasons.
The economics of the BBC Scotland TV channel also point to closure. Launched in 2019 and awarded a budget of £42m in 2024-25, it is only watched live by 12 per cent of the Scottish population.
BBC Four could merge with BBC Two
Those are not the only drastic steps under consideration, with director-general Matt Brittin warning that “we wouldn’t guarantee any programme or any channel will exist for ever”.
Insiders say bosses looked at a plan to close BBC Four and merge the archive arts and history channel with BBC Two.
However BBC Four is relatively cheap to run having already ended original commissioning and enjoys a loyal older audience for its schedule of classic archive programming and repeats of Top of the Pops.
The BBC’s sprawling radio portfolio is also under scrutiny and there are fears for the future of Radio 4 Extra, the digital station airing classic comedy and drama programmes.
Launched as Radio 7 in 2002, the station boasts 1.4 million listeners and previously survived a 2022 proposal to close it.
Its content could now be moved to Sounds, potentially annoying older listeners who tune in to Radio 4 Extra on DAB digital radio sets.
The BBC accepts that children no longer sit down to watch the CBBC channel when they return home from school as viewing habits change.
Live broadcasts of ended after 67 years as the famous show went “digital-first”.
A previous plan to close CBBC as a TV channel entirely and move its content online by the end of 2025 was shelved with executives accepting such a move was premature.
Insiders now believe a TV closure will need to be revisited or CBBC merged with BBC Three to create a new single BBC brand for children and teenagers.
The BBC News Channel will stay on air but shift from domestic stories to an “international focus”, building on its audience growth outside of the UK, where advertising is allowed during segment breaks.
In the UK, BBC News presenters and on-screen editors face redundancy under plans to save £50m with TV news bulletins downgraded in favour of packages for digital outlets.
Closing the BBC Parliament channel could also save a modest amount of money but such a move would be likely to anger parliamentarians who will vote to approve a new BBC charter next year.
Traitors shows BBC One can reach millions
There is still life in scheduled channels.
Thursday night’s opening episode peaked with nine million viewers on BBC One, three million more than the equivalent episode last year.
The final of the 2025 run attracted 15 million viewers, numbers only matched by major England men’s football matches.
It was no coincidence that Thursday’s episode was preceded by promotional messages for the BBC and an announcement telling the declining number of licence fee payers that the show was only possible with their support.
However the audience – three times BBC One’s regular Thursday night average – was an outlier with viewers turning in greater numbers to streaming alternatives like Netflix and even YouTube for their evening viewing.
BBC ‘locked into yesterday’s model’
Explaining the BBC’s move towards online TV, Brittin last week said: “We’re locked into yesterday’s model of how people consume content, and actually the audience is always already living in tomorrow’s world.
“We might have some channels and services where maybe 100,000 people are watching the broadcast service but 500,000 are getting those programmes on iPlayer. We have to look at the cost and the value of all of those different services.”
Ministers are examining proposals to switch off television broadcasts delivered over aerials (or Freeview) as people transition to viewing via streaming. Switch-off could happen in 2034, or a decade later, to ensure every viewer has the broadband capability to make the transition.
The BBC said it did not comment on speculation over channel closures.