Canadian audiences may soon lose a key source of in‑depth UK analysis as the BBC's flagship programme Newsnight faces possible cancellation amid £500 million of cuts.
BBC cost‑saving measures
The public broadcaster is required to find £500 million in savings over the next two years and is planning to cut up to 2,000 jobs, prompting a wave of restructuring.
Similar budget pressures have led the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to trim its own news output, raising concerns among Canadian viewers who rely on the BBC for international coverage. In the United States, public broadcaster PBS has also faced funding challenges, highlighting a broader trend among public media in North America.
Staff at one of the BBC's flagship news programmes are fearful that their show could be "axed" as part of extensive cost‑saving measures, reports claim.
A source told the publication: "Everyone is concerned for Newsnight and how it will fare in the next cuts. We've been warned there are likely budget reductions and revisions next year. It's a worrying time."
The broadcaster is aiming to reduce costs by 10 percent over the next three years.
The news programme, which was responsible for such landmark features as Emily Maitlis's 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, has already faced a significant number of cuts.
In 2023, the number of staff was more than halved from 57 to 23, with the special investigations team being cut entirely and the show reduced in length to half an hour. The BBC merged the production teams on Newsnight and Sunday with Laura Kunessberg in June.
Amid the BBC's widely publicised need to save costs and a shift to focus on social media clips and BBC iPlayer, staff are said to be concerned that the show won't make it.
The insider added that the BBC's new director general, former Google boss Matt Brittin, "has made it clear that success is down to clicks".
Impact on Newsnight
It's not all doom and gloom at Newsnight. Come September, the show, which first launched in 1980, will be moving its Friday edition to a peak‑time slot on the BBC, which the corporation said would build on "the success of its refreshed format".
A BBC spokesperson said: "We're very proud of Newsnight's success; since its reformat, it has significantly increased its audiences, won an Royal Television Society award and is now being moved to a peak‑time slot on Friday evenings.
As we have said, the BBC needs to save £500 million over the next three years and BBC News will play its part in contributing to those savings."
The corporation's radio services were worst hit in the first round of savings, with Radio 4's The World Tonight, the Midnight News, Money Box Live, AntiSocial, The Law Show and Crossing Continents all being cut. On the World Service, The Inquiry, The Conversation and The Fifth Floor will all close by the end of 2026.
The BBC is aiming to reduce costs by 10 percent over the next three years.