The BBC has today announced cutbacks to it's services intended to save £600m which will be re-invested into programming and original content.

The victims of these cutbacks are the radio stations 6 Music and the Asian Network along with a significant proportion of the BBC's website.

Initially this was reported in the newspapers a number of days ago so the announcement is in no way a surprise but I wanted to wait until it was official before commenting.

I'm disappointed that the BBC deems it necessary to wield the axe over 6music. The station is exactly what a publicly funded broadcaster should be providing - a station that would not exist in the commercial sector. Absolute Radio and XFM are probably the nearest big commercial stations but these do not have the diversity offered by 6music. Losing this station will leave a gap that will not be filled.

Part of the problem of the station has been the number of listeners it attracts. I wonder if this problem is down to it's broadcast medium though. Personally speaking I listen to the vast majority of radio whilst in the car. I do not have digital radio in the car. I therefore cannot listen to 6music. I'd be surprised if this is not the case for many people, and therefore I do proportion some of the blame on to the fact that in-car digital radio equipment is not easy to come by (I've checked Halfords and they have precisely none). Most cars do not have digital radio fitted as standard. Until this changes, digital-only stations may well suffer from lack of audience.

The BBC's proposals have now been submitted to the BBC Trust and will be subject to a 12 week consultation period, so there is still hope for the station. If things go the wrong way though, 6music could disappear by the end of 2011.

The BBC Trust are accepting views on this consultation, so to petition the broadcaster to save the station visit:

https://consultations.external.bbc.co.uk/departments/bbc/bbc-strategy-review/consultation/consult_view

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Tags: broadcasting, radio