The 24 hour news channel BBC World News (TopTV 400 / DStv 400) could be downsized just like the SABC (which is planning its own 24 hour news channel) with talk of downscaling the exceptional British news channel to cut costs by 20%.
According to proposals, as first reported by Britain's The Guardian newspaper, the BBC World News could possibly be ''slimmed-down'' with the news channel just concentrating on ''developing news and headlines". The channel does however want to focus on improving ''delivering breaking news".
BBC News also wants to try and increase its output to overseas broadcasters and increase the revenue it gets from commercial journalism "without damaging our brand and reputation". Since the BBC is going to lose some revenue with no increase in the BBC license fee for a few years, the news division will have to deal with cutbacks of 20%.
In an email to staff Kevin Bakhurst, channel head of BBC News says ''I do think it is important to remind ourselves that although some of this will be painful, we remain a well-funded news organisation and news channel (we retain around 80% of our funding) with a fair degree of certainty overall about the level of BBC funding for several years to come."
