BBC to Scrap 200 Websites

The BBC is currently all set to stop publishing in 200 websites as part of a cost-cutting exercise intended to save hundreds of millions of pounds which they are further thinking of investing on a quality gathering. Announced last week, the broadcaster dubbed the programme ‘Putting Quality First’. The plan will affect several areas of the organisation, including its online operation, which is to be halved by 2013, and its £122m budget reduced by a quarter.

The BBC’s director of future media and technology Erik Huggers also told The Guardian that some 400 “top-level domain” websites would be reviewed as part of the programme and that half of these websites will be closed or merged by 2012.

Huggers added that the Beeb had allowed its web operation to “sprawl” and while there is a need to refocus, the review does not mean a backward move in terms of its internet strategy.

“I’m not saying we should retreat from digital, it’s fundamentally about focusing on why we exist and that should define what we do,” he told the newspaper.

“And I think we can do this more responsibly, and with less money. I think these proposals will put the service in better shape, which is why I proposed them.”

It is estimated that some 350 jobs will be lost which equals out to 25 % of their online writers or technicians.