Advanced Television: BBC vows “continued transformation” in Annual Plan

Story from Advanced Television:

The BBC has published its Annual Plan for 2025/26, laying out how it plans to provide value for audiences, support democracy and drive growth in the creative economy.

The corporation said it will focus on delivering on its three key roles this year: pursuing truth with no agenda, backing the best homegrown storytelling and bringing people together. Internationally, the BBC says will continue to engage with the UK Government to secure a sustainable long-term financial future for the BBC World Service.

The Annual Plan reads: “As discussions on the next BBC Charter begin, we will make the case for a universal public service BBC for a generation, securing a Charter which safeguards the BBC’s independence; ensures that it is sustainable for the long-term including through sufficient, reliable funding; and allows the BBC to respond to a changing media market and audience needs.”

“Last week, we announced our biggest ever public engagement exercise, asking BBC account holders about the future of the organisation. This – and broader engagement over the next two years – will be central to work we do in 2025/26 to ensure the public can help shape the BBC’s future.”

“Looking to the year ahead, we will continue our ambitious programme of transformation to ensure the BBC is in the best shape to meet the challenges of a fast-changing media environment. We enter this year with a smaller, leaner workforce following an aggressive savings programme, including a voluntary redundancy programme.”

“To deliver for audiences, we will continue to evolve our services so that audiences can access the content they love, whenever and however they want it. On BBC iPlayer, this means continuing to improve personalisation and creating more seamless journeys between the platform and BBC digital services. We will also strengthen our iPlayer-led news offer, with breaking news and outstanding in-depth documentaries at its heart. This will build on the success of changes like premiering Panorama on the morning of its evening broadcast, and live iPlayer broadcasts of Question Time.”

“To reach younger audiences we will expand BBC News on both TikTok and Instagram. BBC News will also launch an initiative in schools to help young people better gauge the legitimacy of news stories for themselves.”

“In audio, we will look to launch four new distinctive music stations on DAB+, subject to regulatory approval, and make our wide-ranging sports commentaries easier for audiences to discover and enjoy on BBC Sounds.”

“We will also explore how to make the most of AI for audiences and our teams; and help lead the debate on how the responsible use of AI can support human creativity and growth in the creative industries, while protecting the intellectual property of creators.”

“These plans are set against the context of a BBC budget that is down £1 billion a year in real terms, compared to 15 years ago. We have delivered significant efficiencies, including cutting 2,000 roles over the last five years, but continuing with this approach is no longer sustainable. Despite strong growth from BBC Commercial, we face an unprecedented content funding challenge as global co-productions reduce across the sector.”

BBC Chairman, Samir Shah (pictured), commented:: “The BBC’s role has never been more important, both here in the UK and around the world, to deliver trusted, impartial news in a world of disinformation; develop and promote the most compelling homegrown content; and be the place where people come together for unforgettable shared moments. The BBC Board fully endorses this plan, as we plot the long-term future of this marvellous organisation and deliver for audiences for generations to come.”

BBC Director-General, Tim Davie, added: “We are focused on our mission to deliver value for all, through our journalism, our storytelling and our unique ability to bring people together. The UK’s creative industry continues to change rapidly, as does the world around us. This plan sets out how the BBC continues to evolve for audiences, both on and off air, but also how we will support and invest in the wider industry.”

Other Annual Plan 2025/26 content highlights include:

1. In video, new titles include the return of The Night Manager; Riot Women by Sally Wainwright; Lord of the Flies adapted by Jack Thorne, plus the return of The Gold, Doctor Who and Silent Witness.
2. There will be more moments that bring people together in music, including Glastonbury, The Proms, and Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Liverpool.
3. In speech audio, the BBC will mark the 75th anniversary of The Archers on Radio 4; bring more Premier League football matches to fans on 5 Live; and on Sounds the BBC will build on cross-platform audio-visual collaborations with iPlayer, including Traitors Uncloaked which also airs on BBC Two and iPlayer.
4. Sports coverage includes live coverage of both the Women’s Euros and the Women’s Rugby World Cup across all BBC platforms plus live television coverage of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland men’s football internationals.
5. For Children’s and Education, full Newsround bulletins will be made available on YouTube for the first time, as well as its current home on the CBBC linear channel and BBC iPlayer, and BBC Bitesize will launch Planet Planners on Roblox, a human and physical geography themed game, our first educational game on the platform.
6. The BBC’s 39 local multimedia hubs across England will deliver a consistent news offer to audiences on TV, radio and online with new investigative teams delivering in-depth local journalism. Local sports coverage offer is set to be richer with live team pages, team update articles on BBC Sport, and sport podcasts on the BBC Sounds ‘Local to me’ rail.

To further support delivery of our Value for All strategy, this year, the BBC said it will:

• Move more creative spend, programming and journalism outside of London to better represent and reflect audiences.
• BBC Commercial will continue to invest in infrastructure, services and content, as it seeks to meet its five-year returns commitment of £1.5 billion by 2026/27 (a 30 per cent increase on the previous five-year period).
• The BBC will soon publish the findings of an independent review of the its workplace culture.

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