BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, is reportedly ending the commissioning of original content for its set of international BBC channels like BBC Earth and BBC Brit seen on for instance MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and Africa, with BBC Worldwide that has started firing commissioning editors as part of the process.
Deadline on Tuesday first reported about BBC Worldwide's overhauled channel strategy for its BBC channels that includes a cutback on the commissioning on original content for channels like BBC Earth (DStv 184) and BBC Brit (DStv 120).
While in 2017 BBC Brit and BBC Earth for instance broadcast over 50 hours of originally commissioned content, that is now going to be completely eliminated.
BBC Worldwide's channels will now be filled with existing programming that's already being distributed by BBC Worldwide, like Planet Earth II for instance.
People out of jobs so far already are London-based commissioning editors like Hannah Demidowicz who has been with BBC Worldwide since 2014 and Kirsty Hanson who joined BBC Worldwide in 2015.
A BBC Worldwide spokesperson said in a statement that "our global network of branded services has grown and evolved since 2014 - with their commissioning strategies also adapting to best fit their content needs."
"As a result, much of the resource put into delivering global factual entertainment has been redirected towards meeting a growing demand for formats and factual entertainment that can be localized".
BBC Earth is available in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Canada and India.
BBC Brit is available in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Nordic territories.
