River City seen as vulnerable target in BBC Scotland cuts

BBC Scotland is expected to make as many as 150 staff redundant as the broadcaster cuts £16 million from its annual budget in the deepest cuts in a generation.

As part of cost-slashing measures to be to be announced next month, Radio Scotland may cease broadcasting overnight, TV soap River City may be scaled back and there will be cuts to factual programmes, sport and entertainment.

The corporation is currently finalising plans UK-wide to reduce programme budgets by up to 20 per cent in an attempt to drive down its £2.4 billion annual costs. Although BBC Scotland is expected to escape relatively lightly within the BBC’s UK structure, sources have warned that some redundancies and programme cutbacks are inevitable.

The BBC Trust, chaired by Lord Patten, will meet at Pacific Quay, the headquarters of BBC Scotland in Glasgow, this week to discuss the results of the spending review, Putting Quality First, ordered earlier this year to examine how the deep cuts might be made across the national broadcaster.

Broadcast unions warned yesterday that it would be difficult to cut staffing levels further without affecting programme quality.

The official announcement of the BBC’s plans will be made by the trust on 6 October, after which there will be a period of public consultation before any implementation. For BBC Scotland the cutbacks will mean cutting £16m from the £80m it has to spend annually on Scottish-only programmes.

BBC Scotland also faces a 10 per cent cut in staff, the equivalent of 150 staff out of a total workforce of 1,250, with the biggest proportion coming from “background” departments such as human resources, finance and marketing.

Among the most vulnerable programmes is River City, the Scots soap opera, which costs £7m each year to produce and which has failed to secure a slot on the network, though it remains popular, with around 500,000 Scots watching each week.

A senior television executive said: “River City has to be very vulnerable, as it has failed to secure a place on the network and costs a large slice of BBC Scotland’s budget. It is a strong possibility that it will be reduced from 52 weeks a year to around 40 with a break over the summer months.”

Senior BBC executives have said privately that BBC Scotland will escape the worst of the cuts as both the trust and the director-general, Mark Thompson, fear antagonising the SNP-led Scottish Government in case broadcasting becomes devolved following the independence referendum.

A senior source close to the BBC said last night: “BBC Scotland is going to be quite well protected under PQF. The big question will be – if there a choice between independence or devolution max (in the SNP’s independence referendum), broadcasting, or a big chunk of broadcasting, will be devolved, and so the last thing the BBC wants to do is pick a fight with Scotland right now.”

Among the other changes that are also expected to be announced next month is that BBC 2 will drop all daytime programming and instead broadcast a mixture of rolling news and repeats.

There is also expected to be a cut in “soft” documentaries such as the travelogues Tropic of Capricorn and Equator, which are presented by Simon Reeve.

Last night Helen Ryan, spokeswoman for the BBC division of the broadcasting union BECTU, said: “Our concern is on the impact on our members.

“There have been year-on-year efficiency savings and BECTU’s concern is on how many more staff can you try and cut without causing concern over quality of the output and the health and safety and the welfare of those who are left.”