BBC Radio 4, quality drama 'to be protected in cuts'

The BBC is reportedly to protect its high-quality news and drama output, along with BBC Radio 4 in its cuts programme and instead target savings at services such as BBC Two daytime and Radio 1.

BBC director general Mark Thompson will reveal on Thursday the proposed makeup of the Delivering Quality First (DQF) initiative, which will aim to make cuts of up to £700m across the corporation's £3.5 billion budget.

The savings programme is required following the BBC's tough new licence fee settlement agreed a year ago with the government, which froze the licence fee up to 2017 and foisted new financial responsibilities on the corporation, such as the World Service.

Half of the cuts, believed to be around £350m, will come from programming, but the corporation will offset this by reinvesting £140m of the savings into high-quality output for BBC One and BBC Two primetime.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the cuts will focus on the "least watched" areas of the BBC's schedule, particularly daytime television and shows aired after 10.35pm.

The paper claims that BBC Two will be among the hardest hit, seeing its original daytime shows, such as Antiques Road Trip, replaced with repeats of BBC Four programming.

There has also been speculation that digital channel BBC Four could be scaled back in the cuts to drop comedy and drama output and instead focus on being an "arts and archive" network.

It is understood that Radio 4, which costs £120m a year to run, will be saved from the cuts as it is viewed as among the corporation's most high-quality output.

However, Radio 1 and Radio 2 will face "heavy cuts". The music stations are hugely popular with listeners, but there has been criticism that their output is too close to commercial stations, such as Capital FM and Heart.

Drama and news output will be protected across the corporation's outlets, but there will be major cuts to the back-office costs in news production, including hundreds of jobs expected to be cut. Shows such as Newsnight will be bolstered by extra cash from the DQF programme.

The remaining £350m of the cuts is to come from productivity and efficiency savings, including around 2,500 jobs being cut from the corporation's 17,000 employees, mostly in back-office and administration areas.

The corporation has already signalled its intention to reduce the number of senior managers it employs, mostly via redundancies and downgrading positions.

It is understood that redundancy payments are to be capped at two years' wages, or £75,000, whichever is bigger. Unpredictability allowance, a benefit for staff working flexible hours, is also to be scrapped.

The corporation will also announce a 30% cut in the amount of property it occupies, including the proposed sale of its long-running Television Centre base in West London.

The BBC declined to comment on the report, but the corporation has previously said in a statement: "We are not going to get drawn into a running commentary - no decisions have been taken and therefore these claims remain speculation. Any decisions coming out of the process would be subject to approval by the BBC Trust."