As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, cranks up their online offering into rural and metropolitan Australia, the organisation that they like to mimic, the BBC has announced that they are set to scrap 200 web sites.
Under fire from commercial operators, the ABC has won the support of Stephen Conroy, the Federal Communications Minister who last week said that “The digital revolution is driving changes”.
The ABC who want to be a major player in delivering Internet programming to IP enabled TV’s is also looking at charging for program downloads via a series of partners in Australia.
In the UK the BBC is to scrap 200 websites as part of a cost-cutting exercise intended to channel hundreds of millions of pounds into quality programming.
The plan will affect several areas of the organisation, including its online operation, which is to be halved by 2013, and its $250m budget reduced by a quarter.
The BBC’s director of future media and technology Erik Huggers told The Guardian newspaper that some 400 “top-level domain” websites would be reviewed as part of the programme and that half of these websites will be closed or merged by 2012.
Huggers added that the Beeb had allowed its web operation to “sprawl” and while there is a need to refocus, the review does not mean a backward move in terms of its internet strategy.
