NO BLACK COUNTRY STATION....BUT BEEB BOOMS IN BRUM

18-10-2007

Against a background of 1,800 job cuts across the BBC, the West Midlands has emerged relatively unscathed ....and all the indications are that over the next few years the number of staff at the Corporation's Mailbox centre will grow.

BBC Director General Mark Thomson announced the redundancies today, explaining that although 2,500 existing posts will be scrapped 800 new ones will be created.

He outlined a vision of "a smaller BBC but one that packs a bigger punch".

A disappointing licence fee settlement has forced the Beeb's hand - although Thomson insisted that he was also reacting to the changing media market place, especially the growth of online audiences

BBC News and it's Factual department in London will bear the brunt of the job losses - with the separate TV, radio and online newsrooms being merged.

The Stirrer understands that BBC Birmingham is in line to pick up some of the existing factual output, with a slew of gardening productions coming our way - all part of a commitment to devolve more programme-making to the regions.

That will almost certainly mean more jobs - although how many, and when, it's too early to say.

Flagship local news programme Midlands Today faces a loss of three posts, but staff are relieved it's not more - "the view was there's not much left to cut" said one insider - while BBC WM faces a relatively modest hack of £35,000 over the next couple of years.

Plans for a separate Black Country radio station - a long term aspiration of a number of local politicians, especially in Wolverhampton - have now formally been abandoned.

The potential for significant job creation comes with the establishment of a new broadband news service MyLocalNow - a development of the original local TV service pioneered in Birmingham.

That will bring additional jobs to the city, and a new team of dedicated online sports journalists for each of the English regions will also be based in Brum.

Compared to the massive media village being created by the BBC in Manchester, the West Midlands is still arguably failing to punch its weight in media terms; but at a time when wholesale job losses are being visited upon TV Centre this looks suspiciously like good news for our region.