DX TIPS BBC makes first round of major savings in professional services: (10 March 05) The BBC today announced that the first round of plans to transform the organisation will release �139m a year by 2008 to reinvest in to programs. The savings are part of Director-General Mark Thompson's vision to ensure the BBC can meet rapidly changing audience expectations by developing a bold content strategy, transforming itself into a state-of-the-art digital broadcaster and becoming much simpler in its operations and business processes.
The first changes have come from the BBC's Professional Services which include: Strategy & Distribution; Policy & Legal; Finance, Property & Business Affairs; BBC People (HR) and Marketing, Communications & Audiences. Overall, including savings from better procurement, these divisions will collectively be saving �139m a year by 2007/08 which will be reinvested in to programs. There will be a 46% reduction in headcount 980 posts will close, some through staff turnover, others through redundancy and 750 posts are planned to be outsourced. Mr Thompson told senior staff that the BBC Governors had endorsed the plans but would consider these and further savings plans from the content and output divisions as a whole at their meeting next week before giving final approvals. Overall, costs savings across the BBC are higher than anticipated at �355m, compared to the �320m target. He said: "In December I talked about the creative prize for the BBC and our audiences but the cost is nothing short of transformation. "We have made a strong start, showing we are serious about change and ensuring we are maximising the value of our income for audiences' benefit. "We need to make the BBC a simpler, more agile operation, ready to take the creative lead in a very different, very challenging digital future." The announcements come a week after publication of the Government's Green paper on the BBC's Charter, which Secretary of State Tessa Jowell described as a "blueprint for a strong, independent BBC". On Monday, the BBC also announced an extensive cross-media, audience-focused Creative Future project that will produce a ambitious editorial plan for BBC programs, content and services over the next Charter period. (BBC Press Release) Korean Broadcasting System Opens New Audience Plaza: KBS has dedicated the Audience Plaza on March 2 in the lobby of KBS� Main Building. The new open space is equipped with digital broadcast facilities to help visiting audiences learn and experience what KBS is doing for the public. Also inside the Plaza is a stage for a variety of events including those for broadcast purposes. Other facilities include a conference room, meeting space for visitors and coffee shop. As part of the improvement of audience services, KBS has begun operating its new Open Radio Studios also in the entrance of the Main Building. (What�s on KBS, Feb-2005) UNESCO to aid Aceh broadcasters: (11 March 05) The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, is to give US$500,000 to broadcasters in the tsunami-devastated Indonesian province of Aceh to get their stations back up and running. The eight-member bureau of a UNESCO communications development program met this week and voted to provide the money to broadcasters in the province. Seventeen other projects in Asia and the Pacific will receive a total of $293,000 from UNESCO's International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDC) from funds provided by voluntary donors. The IPDC comprises an intergovernmental council of 39 member states, elected by UNESCO's General Conference and scheduled to meet every two years, and a bureau of eight member states nominated by the council. The bureau meets annually to appraise proposals and allocate funding for media projects. Last year it granted $1.84 million to 66 projects. (ABU Latest News) Call for more funding for Radio Australia: (10 March 05) Australia's opposition Labor Party has called for more funding for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's international service, Radio Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald has reported. Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd, said the government should reverse funding cuts for the service so that it could reach more people in Indonesia. He said there was not enough awareness in Indonesia about the scale of Australia's aid contribution in the wake of the tsunami on 26 December. This could be improved by strengthening Radio Australia's signal. "It is impossible now to get a strong signal to the western part of the Indonesian archipelago and that includes Sumatra and that includes Aceh," he said. "We have very limited capacity to get a shortwave message out to the 230 million people of Indonesia so that they know, through their own language, what we in Australia are doing." The Australian government plans to provide nearly US$900 million to help Indonesia recover from the tsunami. The package will focus on rebuilding Aceh, the worst-hit region. (ABU Latest News) Doordarshan channel set for new look : (09 March 05) India's public broadcaster Doordarshan is all set to change the content, look and format of its Chandana channel for greater appeal, according to its Director, Mahesh Joshi. The changes include bringing back popular shows as well as increasing the frequency of their telecasts, reports The Hindu newspaper. Mega serials and daily soap operas will also be lined up and the infotainment content covering science and technology, medicine, health, public grievances, current events and employment news is set to increase as well. Also, seven news bulletins and programmes telecast during the day will feature events within two hours of their occurrence. Mr Joshi said viewers' letters had inspired the makeover. (ABU Latest News) Best Regards, MD. AZIZUL ALAM AL-AMIN GOURHANGA, GHORAMARA RAJSHAHI-6100 BANGLADESH ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2005 is coming out. 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