BBC South Today’s website is among 170 sites which have been earmarked for closure by the BBC as part of a 25% cut to the corporation’s online budget.
The cuts, which are out for consultation, will lead to the total loss of 360 jobs, 70 of which will be from from journalism, news and non-news parts of regional sites.
BBC director general Mark Thompson said :”A refocusing on our editorial priorities, a commitment to the highest quality standards and a more streamlined and collegiate way of working will help us transform BBC Online for the future.”
As part of the plans,the BBC said it will increase links to external sites to generate 22m referrals within three years. One way in which it already does this is through its links to other news sites on regional news pages, such as this one on BBC Sussex. Brighton and Hove News would be delighted to be included here, but sadly our requests have so far been unsuccessful.
The BBC South Today website is a vital link to those who like to know more about what is going on in the BBC South area. The BBC South Today TV programme can only give you so much information in their half hour TV slot, so for more information you need somewhere else to go, like their website to find out more detailed information. I live in South Berkshire, so I am on the border of BBC London and BBC South. I have been enjoying BBC South programmes for some time. With the digital switchover due next February, I had feared that the BBC might get rid of regional TV altogether and only offer centralised BBC programmes to compete with other digital channels. I suppose that keeping BBC South Today is more important than keeping their website.