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BBC cannot guarantee any programme or channel will exist forever according to director general

25 Sep 2026 3 minute read

Matt Brittin, the new BBC director-general. Photo credit: Lucy North/PA Wire

Pierra Willix, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter

BBC director-general Matt Brittin has said “we wouldn’t guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever”.

The BBC announced plans in June for savings across the news, nations and content divisions, which are set to deliver £160 million of £500 million in savings needed by 2028/29.

Around 2,000 jobs are expected to be cut as part of the process.

Brittin discussed the BBC’s financial situation in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg to be aired on Sunday.

A preview of the interview – for the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme – was broadcast on BBC News At One on Friday.

In it, Brittin said both the BBC’s finances and changing audience habits “may well mean” some channels and radio stations will close to divert funding into on-demand services.

“If you see changes that we make in the future as we work out how best deal with this challenge, by the way hopefully with a new charter in 18 months’ time, we will be in a position where we can make longer term decisions about funding,” he said.

“We wouldn’t guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever.

“The tight financial situation means that we are having to look at some of those decisions a bit sooner than we might like but, if most of an audience is getting things on demand, we have to look at the cost and the value of all of those different services.”

In recent months, the BBC has cancelled a series of programmes including Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind, Live At The Apollo and Football Focus.

When asked by Kuenssberg if he would allow a programme to be made and presented by AI, Brittin said: “I would do, within guardrails.

“We want to experiment with this technology and understand what it can and can’t do, but I’m here because I believe in human creativity.

“I don’t think anything we do should be replaced by AI. I think there are lots of places where AI can help us make the licence fee go further but also help us in our decision-making and creativity. But it’s not a substitute for humans.”

He also expressed concerns about a handful of tech companies having control of information in the future.

“We’re also in this moment where AI is in take-off,” he said. “I think there’s a danger that six companies will control access to information in future and the creation of information and misinformation.

“There’s a lot of platforms out there, so I wouldn’t trust any platform innately. I think what you do is you keep under review how those things work and whether your content can show up in the right place and fulfil its mission.”

He added: “I think the BBC and our apps and services should be the antidote to the algorithm. Everywhere else you go is driven by some commercial interest.”

Brittin took over the top job at the national broadcaster in May.

The former Google executive, who succeeded Tim Davie, is the first director-general since Greg Dyke in 2000 to take on the role without working at the BBC beforehand.

The BBC’s latest annual report detailed how the corporation’s financial outlook “deteriorated” in the second half of 2025.

The full interview will be broadcast at 9am on Sunday on on BBC One.

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