So how exactly will the BBC’s online strategy review trickle down to the coalface? Future media and technology boss Erik Huggers spends 2,000 words explaining his thinking, but we’re still none the wiser.
The recent Putting Quality First review aims to focus on five BBC editorial priorities, cut online costs by 25 percent, double outbound links and halve the number of top-level site directories.
Restating those aims, Huggers writes that he told staff on Wednesday how he wants to make good on the commitments: “By properly harnessing the incredible talent we have in this organisation, I believe we can make BBC Online an even better service for our audiences, and spend less in the process.”
This sounds like it portends some staff reorganisation, but Huggers’ blog post, at least, comes with no such detail.
Huggers already recently did an exec-level reshuffle ahead of these changes, which he is characterising as a move “from building websites to managing products”.
A BBC spokesperson tells paidContent:UK: “The next step is deciding what those products are and what they’ll look like, and who will build them.” For the core areas in which the products will live, see Huggers’ post.
The strategy review’s 25 percent budget cut will have a “corresponding” jobs impact, but there’s not yet any word on how that will trickle through and the BBC Trust is yet to approve the changes proposed in the wider review, the spokesperson says.
Because BBC Sport and Childrens teams are moving to Manchester, Huggers has also created new Childrens, Sport and Apps future media teams that will move to Manchester, in addition to supporting technology teams.