The BBC has felt the impact of Covid-19 as much as the next television conglomerate. A £125 million gap in their finances – a combined result of being unable to actively pursue licence fee dodgers, and BBC Studios being unable to make up the difference – has left the station asking questions about the future of their channels.
An obvious, though unfortunate candidate, for the cut is the nation’s cultural beacon, BBC Four. The channel, with the average age of viewers at 62 years, accounts for £44 million of the BBC’s budget, though only two per cent of the nation’s viewership.
It is believed that executives have resigned themselves to the channel’s fate – this will be the last year that BBC Four is a broadcast channel. While the BBC has officially denied the channel’s closure, Lord Hall of Birkenhead leaves the decision in the hands of his successor, not wanting the removal of the channel to be part of his legacy.
Cassian Harrison, the channel’s controller, announced earlier in May that he was moving on from his position, and at present Patrick Holland, the controller of BBC Two has taken up the mantel. A source has said that Holland “is not known for having an interest in the arts.”
While presenters including Dr Lucy Worsley and Dr Janina Ramirez have protested the potential closure, Professor Mary Beard has a different perspective. She notes: “We have got to see the BBC holistically. It is totally understandable that, when people see a threat to a part of the BBC that they are very attached to, they want to protect it.
“But the important thing is that we have a flourishing BBC. It is the whole piece that is important. I want the BBC to survive and there are many different ways in which it can do that.”
Professor Beard concludes: “I want to see a flourishing BBC with arts and culture in it, alongside all the things that I don’t watch. I don’t watch sport or BBC children’s telly but I think it’s really important that it’s there. I want a BBC in which there are things that I don’t want to watch.”
