Together BBC will go our way, together BBC will leave some day.
BBC Look East could axe its West programming - which covers Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Herfordshire, Peterborough and Milton Keynes - in an effort to save more than �1million.
The cost-cutting proposal would mean less BBC coverage of stories from an area of England which is currently home to more than 2.5 million people.
Currently the BBC in Cambridge produces an eight minute long opt-out from BBC Look East’s Norfolk-based main programme at 6.30pm.
The BBC’s West team also produces two further opt-outs from BBC Look East: the 8pm news update and the 10.30 regional programme at the end of the BBC’s flag ship national 10pm news.
The BBC is considering axing Look East’s West programming as part of plans to cut 20 per cent from its budget. Axing this opt-out will save the BBC around �1.3m and result in a loss of at least 16 jobs.
The loss of the BBC’s West opt will also mean less coverage of stories from Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex.
There may no longer be substantial coverage of teams like the Northampton Saints, Peterborough United or the MK Dons. Currently on big sport days the West opt routinely expands to 12 minutes to provide that coverage.
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The opt-outs were introduced in 1997 to better report the news and stories of the western part of the BBC’s largest regional broadcasting area.
