BBC boss Matt Brittin refuses to rule out BBC Scotland channel closure

Edinburgh — The new boss of the BBC has declined to rule out the closure of the BBC Scotland channel, as the corporation faces pressure over costs, audiences and staffing.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, BBC director-general Matt Brittin was asked about the channel’s future. The service costs £42 million a year to run and is reported to reach just 619,000 people a week.

‘Not a yes-or-no-answer’

“It’s not a yes-or-no-answer question for me because I don’t have an answer,” said Brittin, a former senior executive at Google.

He added: “We’re looking at everything in terms of the audience value it delivers, and I know that there are concerns about the scale of value there.

“What is important to me, to Hayley [Valentine, director of BBC Scotland], and to our team in Scotland and across the UK is reflecting the audience’s needs in each of the nations. It’s important for us to think about how we provide products, services, shows and stories, and how we serve the audience where they are today.”

Pacific Quay under scrutiny

Earlier in the session, host Kirsty Wark said the vast BBC Scotland headquarters at Pacific Quay in Glasgow looked like “a call centre where half the staff have been made redundant”.

In the wide-ranging interview with Wark — his first public conversation since taking the job in May — Brittin said reports that Newsnight would be axed were “nonsense”.

He also revealed that he had not been aware of the “severity” of the proposed cuts required at the corporation — £500 million of savings by 2028-29.

Introducing him, Wark said he had once applied to the BBC for a graduate-entry job but was rejected. As the new director-general, his in-tray would include “making the BBC fit for purpose, including finding a new funding model fast, and making many painful decisions about spending, which will affect many jobs, including for many indie producers”.

She added: “He’ll also have to deal with the ADSS. The corporation loves an acronym. For the uninitiated, that’s the Almost Daily **** Show.”

Brittin revealed that he had gone on a tour of the BBC before his appointment was announced. The trip included a visit to Pacific Quay during the elections and to the set of hit drama Shetland.

Jobs, leadership and the future

Wark asked about the task of cutting between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs.

“It’s hard, and I don’t think there are programmes that nobody’s watching or services that nobody enjoys. But let’s be clear: 90% of the BBC will remain, 90% of the people in the BBC will remain, and we need to focus in this moment on serving the audience. That’s what we all do together.”

One possible way forward would be to open up the space — and iPlayer — to outside creators, Brittin said.

“What if we could say to people: create content about where you live, about the sports teams you follow, about the skills and businesses in the area, and do that in line with our guidelines? That’s an opportunity for us to be an open platform, a sovereign platform where other people’s algorithms are not what’s recommended.”

When Wark asked about cheap rents for independent production companies, Brittin said: “I’m not going to commit to anything on the cost side,” but “I do believe that physically co-locating different people with different skills drives creativity.”

Wark also said the most important role Brittin had to fill was head of news, and challenged him on the make-up of the leadership team. Brittin replied: “I think I get the point you’re making,” then joked, “Are you available?”

After the laughter had died down, he added: “Yes, we want to have the most diverse leadership team we can. Don’t judge me on one appointment, but we will make the right appointments: the best-quality people for the best jobs, always with a diverse slate of candidates.”

BBC creative direction

On the visual style of BBC programmes, Brittin said: “That depends on genre, right? So I think Strictly needs to be polished and shiny, and The Traitors needs to be in a castle, and so on.

“Last night I watched Scotcast. It was an incredibly moving retrospective on Lockerbie. It was a brilliant show, and it was done in a podcasting studio.”