Major BBC Radio Stations Lose Almost 2 Million Listeners In 12 Months - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th October, 2022) Two major BBC radio stations have lost almost two million listeners over the past year, The Times newspaper reported on Thursday, citing data from research body Rajar.

According to the figures, the total number of listeners of the BBC Radio 4 station decreased by 9%, from 10.8 million to 9.8 million year-on-year, the number of listeners of the BBC Radio 5 Live station fell by 18%, from 5.9 million to 4.9 million over the same period. Over the past 12 months, the number of listeners has decreased at all well-known BBC radio stations.

Recently, the BBC broadcasting corporation has been facing significant financial difficulties. The company has already lost 1,200 employees and a significant part of its profits amid rising inflation over the past few years. The situation is aggravated by the cut in funding and the government's decision to freeze the license fee for the next two years.

In the UK, tv licenses must be purchased by all individuals and legal entities whose homes and offices have televisions. The proceeds from the sale of licenses go to finance the BBC and cover about 75% of the costs of transmitting the signal within the country. The UK authorities froze the payment for the BBC television license for two years to support the population amid the rising cost of living. The fee will remain at 159 Pounds ($184) until 2024.

According to the report, the BBC is expected to receive around 3.7 billion pounds in license payments in 2022 and 23 billion pounds over the billing period. The corporation will also receive over 90 million pounds a year from the government to support the BBC World Service.