ABC to rely on BBC for Iraq coverage

ABC will cease to have a full-time correspondent based in Baghdad as part of a plan to dramatically down-scale its presence in Iraq and rely instead on the BBC for reports from the country.

The network will still maintain its Baghdad bureau but reports from the BBC - with which ABC News already has a long-standing content agreement - will provide the bulk of ABC's daily coverage.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC will make additional financial contributions to the BBC in support of its coverage, but specific amounts were not disclosed. An unnamed ABC executive characterised the move as "a reallocation of resources so we're not spending money for a substantial presence on the ground waiting for something to happen".

The move comes as the big three American broadcast networks, which each support costly news divisions, seek to battle shrinking budgets as they deploy resources to covering the war in Afghanistan, which President-elect Barack Obama has made one of his top foreign policy priorities after he takes office on January 20.