More repeats as BBC axes jobs

One source said Hall accepts that the corporation can no longer spend its way to success and must become more collaborative to renew its place in the fabric of the nation.

“Less money means more partnerships,” the source said.

The BBC last week cast aside a 93-year partnership with the Met Office, but Hall wants to build alliances with universities and scientific and cultural institutions, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Radio 4’s partnership with the British Museum led to series such as A History of the World in 100 Objects. A new venture, myBBC, will forge links with schools, which already rely heavily on BBC educational materials.

A plan to cut 1,000 jobs was announced last month but the BBC intends to reduce another 3,000 jobs by 2020, bringing the combined headcount of the public service part of the corporation, including the World Service, to 15,000.

The BBC admitted this weekend that 93 executives earn more than the £142,500 pay of David Cameron — an increase from 87 in spring last year. Of this total, 26 have salaries of £200,000 or more and seven receive £300,000 or more, while Hall gets £450,000.

The figures do not include the executives at BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm.

Jonathan Peachey, launch director of myBBC, earns £200,000; Janice Hadlow, controller, seasons and special projects, receives £235,000; Anna Mallett, director and project lead, production review, is paid £240,000; Ian Katz, editor of Newsnight, gets £150,600 while Ceri Thomas, editor of Panorama, is on £166,000.

The BBC said it had cut the number of senior managers by a third since 2009, saving £27m, and their number would be reduced further in the latest round of job cuts. Hall has had early talks about reductions of £150m to £200m a year in the budgets of BBC1 and BBC2, which currently spend a combined £1.9bn.

This would lead to more repeats of programmes and could force the broadcaster to become more inventive, rather than bid against commercial networks to buy in formats such as The Voice.

There has also been talk of closing two or three of the smaller networks in the BBC’s portfolio of nine television stations and 16 national and digital radio networks, including those for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Hall appears to be ducking tougher decisions, however. He has no intention of considering whether Radio 1 and Radio 2 should be privatised, as mooted by Lord Grade, a former BBC chairman. Hall is also said to be reluctant to turn the BBC News channel — which he launched in 1991 and which costs £63m — into a service delivered only online and via apps.

At present none of the BBC’s six orchestras and performing groups is under threat from Hall, a former chief executive of the Royal Opera House, although they may face further economies to their £33m budget. They include the Symphony, Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony orchestras.

Allies say Hall now accepts that the BBC website must be held back from using licence fee money to undermine newspapers — it has a budget of £201m shared with the red button service. Osborne pointed last month to the website’s array of features and recipes saying “effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper”.

The BBC’s financial predicament may be worse than previously thought. It has run into problems in closing a loophole in the licence fee which it blames for missing out on £150m by allowing viewers to watch programmes for free on the iPlayer catch-up service.

Although the broadcaster is working on a system for iPlayer viewers to verify that they have paid the licence fee, no decision has been taken to enforce it and it would be three years before the system is ready.

It has emerged that Hall is worried that John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, has not yet confirmed whether the licence fee will be linked to the consumer price index from January 2017 after a freeze which has reduced its real value by 13%.

The BBC also fears that its charter may be renewed for only five years, to January 2022, instead of the normal 10-year term.

The part or full privatisastion of the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, mooted in the green paper, could provide a lifeline, releasing extra income to set against its funding shortfall. A friend of Hall said the BBC could receive a significant part of a sale which could fetch about £1.5bn and an annual dividend — but Hall is said to be resistant.

One source closely involved in shaping the future of the BBC expressed frustration at the broadcaster’s reluctance to “help itself” by charging for “add-ons” to its basic service.

Hall’s hands will be tied as he tries to cut back jobs and studios because the corporation has spent heavily over the past 15 years to reach a point where half its staff now work outside London.

It has signed long-term leases for expensive head offices in London, Glasgow and Salford. An adviser to Hall said it will also be politically impossible to make serious cuts at bases in Belfast and Cardiff.

The broadcaster said: “While it is clear the BBC does have a tough funding settlement and will need to live within its means, we haven’t as yet shared our proposals and people should wait to hear what we have to say rather than what others think we might have to say on our future.”

Additional reporting: Sanya Burgess