BBC Shuts Two TV Channels and Cuts 100+ Jobs in £500 Million Savings Drive

The BBC announced on October 20–21, 2026 that it will shut the linear broadcast services of BBC Three, BBC Scotland and Radio 4 Extra in spring 2027 as the centrepiece of a £500 million savings programme to be completed by 2028. BBC Three, which was restored as a linear channel in 2022 after years as a streaming-only service, will revert to iPlayer and YouTube distribution. BBC Scotland's programmes will migrate to iPlayer, and Radio 4 Extra's archive comedy and drama content will be available through BBC Sounds. In addition, BBC News will cut a net total of just over 100 positions, saving approximately £5.5 million. The wider plan puts up to 2,000 jobs at risk across the corporation — the largest redundancy programme since 2011 — as the BBC contends with rising production costs, a frozen licence fee and accelerating audience migration to streaming. Director-General Tim Davie described the measures as necessary to ensure the BBC remains a strong public broadcaster in a fundamentally changed media landscape. Critics, including unions and Scottish politicians, condemned the closure of BBC Scotland's linear service as an assault on devolved public broadcasting. The BBC confirmed that the channels' content commitments will continue digitally rather than being cancelled outright.