BBC Says “Unprecedented Funding Challenge” Lies Ahead As Content Spend Set To Fall By $200M

deadline.com:

The BBC faces an “unprecedented content funding challenge” in the year to come, the corporation’s Annual Plan setting out priorities for the next 12 months has said.

As we have reported in depth so far this year, the BBC flagged “co-production partnerships with global streamers and media companies [that] have reduced across the sector” as contributing to the major challenge. “Without intervention, it will be difficult to maintain the current ambition and volume of UK content,” said the plan.

The much-publicized drop-off in the American co-pro market has left numerous BBC shows stuck in funding limbo, although today’s Annual Plan didn’t go into further detail around these shows, which we know includes the likes of its Shuggie Bain adaptation.

The BBC did, however, reveal that its content spend for the coming 12 months will slide by £150M ($200M) to £2.5B. This figure does tend to fluctuate and is often dependent on whether there is a big sporting event coming up in the summer, which there isn’t in the next 12 months.