BBC Four & CBBC to close

[p2004]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bbc4-...-7pn7qwzjq

BBC4 is at risk as the corporation scrambles to plug a £1.5 billion funding gap after the licence fee was frozen for two years.

Several BBC sources have said that the highbrow channel, which shows arts programmes and foreign dramas and was once home to comedy shows including The Thick Of It and Detectorists, cannot survive another round of cuts.

BBC4 has been under threat for years but instead of closing the channel and risking an audience backlash, the BBC has repositioned it as an archive service. Nearly 90 per cent of its schedule comprises repeats. “In a world where you’ve got to make tough choices, it has started to stick out like a sore thumb,” one BBC insider said. Another said: “I’m not sure how it will survive.”

It would be a shame to see BBC Four go but it's been completely neutered with a lower budget, the fact that its original programmes have all gone to BBC Two, and BBC Three taking back overflow programming that Four used to air

Nothing's been confirmed at the moment so I wouldn't worry quite yet, although if it turns out to be the case it will anger a lot of viewers around the country, there are loads of other ways that the BBC can make savings, by axing programmes such as The One Show, The Apprentice and Strictly Come Dancing and bring back back the most important flagship programmes such as Watchdog and Crimewatch which were wrongly axed and shouldn't have been instead of channels which viewers are most passionate about.

Or here's another thought, Close the IPlayer, we already have BritBox so there literally is no point of the corporation to carry on running it's Iplayer service.

To be completely blunt, all of those are terrible ideas that you have suggested for saving money. Your view appears to favour certain flagship programmes over others, and is irreverent to the ratings that each one brings. It would be utterly foolish for the BBC to cut staples such as The Apprentice or Strictly Come Dancing, which pull consistent large audiences. Axing the iPlayer would also be an extremely poor decision, even without touching the fact that it puts BBC content up behind a paywall. The BBC iPlayer is still, by far, the most popular TV channel catch-up service, with ITV Hub/All4 trailing far behind. If there is anywhere to make cuts, once you consider remits and the like, BBC Four is easily the best choice for it - no original programming, a very small audience, typically only catering towards certain niches.