{"id":504574,"date":"2026-06-17T16:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504574\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T16:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:07:10","slug":"bbc-news-cancels-shows-like-the-world-tonight-amid-grim-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504574\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC News Cancels Shows Like ‘The World Tonight’ Amid “Grim” Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBBC<\/a> News has announced a detailed package of content cuts after director-general Matt Brittin warned earlier on Wednesday<\/a> that savings measures would involve \u201ctough choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an email to the newsroom, acting BBC News<\/a> CEO Jonathan Munro told journalists that shows including Radio 4\u2019s The World Tonight, a 56-year-old institution, are going to be canceled.<\/p>\n

\n\tBBC News is also not replacing Amol Rajan as a presenter on Radio 4\u2019s Today, one of the biggest news shows in the UK. This reduces the show\u2019s roster of permanent hosts from five to four.<\/p>\n

\n\tChief presenter and on-screen editor roles are also under review, meaning some of BBC News\u2019 highest-profile faces could have their jobs closed.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe cuts announced by BBC News today are worth around \u00a325M ($33.5M), which is less than half its savings target of \u00a351M by next April. It means another round of cuts is expected in the coming months. One insider described it as a \u201cgrim\u201d day.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC News savings are the division\u2019s contribution to the BBC\u2019s overall plan to\u00a0slash costs by \u00a3500M<\/a>\u00a0($670M) over the next three years, building on an existing target of \u00a31.5B.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther shows being canceled include Radio 4\u2019s Midnight News and Money Box Live. BBC Breakfast will no longer broadcast on a Sunday morning from September, while 5 Live Weekend Breakfast will become a two-hour show.<\/p>\n

\n\tBehind-the-scenes changes are also planned, including merging the production teams of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and Newsnight.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cChange of this scale is never easy, and we recognise the personal impact it can have. We are committed to supporting everyone through this period as fully as we can,\u201d Munro said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have had to make some very tough choices. But they are considered choices \u2013 made carefully and collectively \u2013 with a clear focus on aligning our resources to our audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe savings measures add to the uncertainty at BBC News, which remains without a permanent leader eight months after Deborah Turness quit amid a scandal over a botched Donald Trump edit. <\/p>\n

\n\tInsiders have been speculating for months over who could succeed Turness, with frontrunners said to include Channel 4 News editor Esme Wren and Louisa Compton, Channel 4\u2019s head of news and current affairs. An official recruitment process has yet to begin.<\/p>\n

\n\tBetween 1,800 and 2,000 roles will be laid off across the BBC in the coming months, contributing to a sense of gloom among the workforce.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC will open a voluntary redundancy scheme to avoid compulsory layoffs, but the cuts represent roughly one in 10 members of staff across the BBC\u2019s licence fee-funded and commercial operations.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe bigger picture is that 94% of the UK population use the BBC every month, but fewer than 80% pay the \u00a3180 annual licence fee. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC is attempting to bridge this gap as part of negotiations with the government over a new royal charter, which is effectively the corporation\u2019s operating agreement for the coming years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC News has announced a detailed package of content cuts after director-general Matt Brittin warned earlier on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1578,65510,93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-504574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-bbc-news","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}