BBC U-turn over Asian Network

Corporation decides not to close digital radio station, but aims to cut its budget in half The BBC has reversed its decision to close the Asian Network digital radio station – but will look to cut its budget in half. The decision will be warmly welcomed by the station’s staff and listeners but will be seen by the corporation’s critics as a second embarrassing U-turn a year after the BBC Trust rebuffed management plans to close sister digital station, 6 Music . BBC executives are understood to have concluded that a national digital radio station remains the best way of reaching Asian listeners, rather than a collection of medium wave services that was mooted as one possible replacement. The station’s audience has increased by about a third since the closure plan was announced in March 2010 and had an average weekly reach of 477,000 listeners in the final three months of last year . As well as cutting Asian Network’s budget, management is expected to demand a further increase in its audience and awareness of the network among radio listeners. The decision, announced by BBC Radio 1 and Asian Network controller Andy Parfitt in a conference call to staff on Monday, follows a last-ditch effort to save the station launched by its supporters last month . BBC Asian Network’s future will now be rolled into the “Delivering Quality First” review being overseen by director general Mark Thompson of the corporation’s entire services and output aimed at saving more than £400m. The Asian Network’s budget is bigger than any other of the BBC’s digital stations, with £8.9m spent on content out of a total of £12.1m last year. At 8.5p per listener hour, it was more expensive than any other BBC radio station. The next most expensive, BBC Radio 3, cost 6.3p per user hour, while BBC Radio 2, at 0.5p per user hour, was the cheapest. The plan to keep the station will have to be approved by the BBC Trust in the summer. More details soon… •

Posted by on March 14, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.