The BBC is set to publish a strategy which could see its website scaled back and digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network closed.

Director General Mark Thompson will set out the plans, which could see an extra £600m ($893m) diverted into programmes.

Writing in the Guardian, he said the corporation must focus on providing quality and originality and "not attempt to do everything".

Rumours of the closures provoked anger among unions and the stations' fans.

Union leaders have warned of industrial action.

The new strategy was commissioned by the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, last summer.

[The BBC] must listen to legitimate concerns from commercial media players more carefully than it has in the past
Mark Thompson

The Times said last week it had seen leaked documents suggesting that, as well as the station closures, the number of web pages would be halved and online staff cut by a quarter.

Imported TV shows and sport were also set to be cut, it said.

However, Mr Thompson insisted the strategy was not a "blueprint for a small BBC, or a BBC that is in retreat from digital".

Rather, he said, the corporation must be "clearer about its own limits within public space".

"Where actual or potential market impact outweighs public value, the BBC should leave space for others," he said.

"It must listen to legitimate concerns from commercial media players more carefully than it has in the past, and act sooner to meet them."

In recent months, the BBC has been the focus of criticism in some of the independent media.

Last August, James Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation - which owns the Times and the Sun and is the largest shareholder in BSkyB - said that a "dominant" BBC was threatening independent journalism in the UK.

The BBC's spending has also been the focus of attention, amid criticism of salaries paid to senior managers and stars.

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw said on Sunday there was "good reason" for a debate on the licence fee, having previously said there was "a case" for funding cuts.

Proposals are expected to be submitted to the trust within the next month. If approved, they are likely to be put out for public consultation.

'Cultural vandalism'

The review could also recommend the disposal of BBC Worldwide's UK magazine titles, which include Top Gear, Radio Times, BBC Good Food and Gardeners' World.

Mr Thompson wrote that the corporation's commercial activities should help to fund but "never distort or supplant" its public mission.

The music industry has been quick to voice dissent over the possibility of station closures.

The heads of the British Phonographic Institute and the Association of Independent Music have written to Mr Thompson saying they are "surprised and alarmed" by the reports.

Comedian and DJ Phill Jupitus described the potential axing of 6 Music as "an act of cultural vandalism".

At the weekend, Sunny Hundal, editor of Asians in Media magazine, told BBC Radio 5 live that cutting the Asian Network would deprive listeners of a valuable place where Asian content was integrated with mainstream output.

Meanwhile, National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear said: "These plans smack of an attempt to appease commercial and political interests.

"Public pressure can help persuade the BBC to put its viewers and listeners first, rather than allowing the corporate media barons to have their way and begin dismantling a vital national service."

Killing off the mags sounds like quite a dumb idea too...

Sounds more like selling off than killing off to me. I can see some of them doing OK with another publisher.

Jon

I've sent an email to the BBC Trust urging them to consider the proposed actions very seriously indeed.

I believe there are plenty of places the BBC could trim things down, such as 24-hour news, ratings-chasing celebrity nonsense, 1Xtra. There is simply nowhere else that the kind of music 6 Music plays gets any airtime these days, and to lose the one outlet would be a travesty in my opinion. It can't cost that much to run a niche digital radio station, surely?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/contact/index.shtml Ere it is.

BBC To Axe Two Digital Radio Stations

The BBC has confirmed plans to close down the digital radio stations 6 Music and Asian Network as part of wide-ranging cuts.

Half of the sections on the BBC website are set be pulled, as the corporation reduces online spending by a quarter, and the budget for US imports will be reduced by 20%.

Meanwhile, BBC Switch and BBC Blast - both of which are multimedia outputs aimed at teenagers - are also facing the chop.

The drastic changes were outlined by BBC director general Mark Thompson as he presented the Putting Quality First review to staff ahead of a 12-week consultation period.

In the report to the BBC Trust, the corporation said it wants to reprioritise nearly £600m a year to higher quality content.

Unions have warned the cuts could lead to the loss of 600 jobs, and said staff may take industrial action to fight the proposals.

Since it was reported that 6 Music was under threat, 83,000 angry listeners have joined a Facebook group opposing any attempt to close it.

Music legend David Bowie has even added his voice to the movement to back 6 Music, which has 695,000 listeners and a DJ line-up that includes Jarvis Cocker and Lauren Laverne.

Bowie said: "6 Music keeps the spirit of broadcasters like John Peel alive and for new artists to lose this station would be a great shame."

Radio 5 Live presenter Richard Bacon said: "6 Music is staffed by talented people providing 'distinctive' programming that values 'quality over quantity'. Exactly what this restructure is supposed to be about."

He went on: "6 Music is distinctive and serves an audience not catered for by the commercial sector. What happens when folk use whatever rationale they have come up with to justify the 6 Music decision and apply it to other parts of the BBC?"

However, the Putting Quality First review concluded: "...although it has achieved good growth in recent years, it has low reach and awareness and delivers relatively few unique listeners to BBC radio".

The same report said the Asian Network had "failed to build on its early growth and has lost around 20% of its listeners over the past three years".

In his briefing, Mr Thompson reportedly said the radio stations would not cease to broadcast until the end of 2011 at the earliest.

Writing in The Guardian earlier, the director general said the BBC "should not attempt to do everything" and "should leave space for others".

Mr Thompson added: "It must listen to legitimate concerns from commercial media players more carefully than it has in the past, and act sooner to meet them.

"It needs the confidence and clarity to stop as well as to start doing things."

The threat of job cuts has prompted leaders of the broadcasting workers union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists to arrange a meeting with Mr Thompson.

Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: "If the BBC has to look at savings, they should tackle executive pay rather than programmes or content."

The strategic review comes amid debate over the future of the BBC's £3.6bn annual funding from the licence fee, and recent long-running criticism of some of the salaries paid to its stars and executives.

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons said: "The public pick up the bill for the BBC and it is right that it constantly evolves to meet their expectations.This strategy review is a key part of that process.

"We welcome the general direction of this report, although we will want to test and consider how it is delivered. We are clear it heads towards a more disciplined and sharply-focused BBC."