BBC News At Six and News At Ten could be scrapped in next decade, head of news says

News chief says she expects shift to digital despite rise in TV viewers during pandemic

The BBC’s News At Six and News At Ten bulletins may not be a feature of television schedules in the near future as the broadcaster shifts its coverage to digital content, the corporation’s head of news has said.

Fran Unsworth, who took on the role in 2018, suggested news would be “in the digital space” where it would be accessed through iPlayer within a decade.

“Ultimately, in 10 years’ time, we probably won’t be consuming linear bulletins. I might be wrong about that but I doubt it,” Ms Unsworth told The Daily Telegraph.

“There might be one [bulletin] a day, but video will just be in a different space ... you know, iPlayer, your tablet, your iPhone.”

Her comments came despite audience figures rising during the coronavirus pandemic, as more younger viewers tuned in to get updates on the UK’s lockdown.

Figures released at the start of lockdown showed news bulletins and lifestyle programmes had seen a rise in ratings.

In the week ending 29 March, five of the 10 most-watched broadcasts were editions of the BBC News At Six, with the bulletin on Monday 23 March attracting a TV audience of 8.3 million people – nearly double the programme’s typical rating so far this year.

Ms Unsworth added that one of the flagship news programmes could survive the next decade but she did not expect the rise in younger viewers to continue after the pandemic.

“I’m not under any illusions, to be quite honest with you, because I’ve seen it in the past,” she said.

“You get these big peaks, the big stories like the Bataclan [attack in 2015] and London Bridge attacks, then the audience falls off again quite rapidly.”

She added: “What I would hope is that we’ve changed our image in the mind of the younger viewer, which is that we are there to be relied on, and if they really do want to know what’s happening they will come to us to find out.”

In March, outgoing BBC director-general Tony Hall suspended plans to axe 450 jobs across BBC News to help the organisation cover the pandemic.

The broadcaster had announced cuts to Radio 5 Live, Newsnight, the Victoria Derbyshire programme, the World Service’s World Update and other news services as part of efforts to save £80m by 2022.

Lord Hall reportedly told staff it would be “inappropriate” to try to meet the cost-cutting target while the service was stretched by the demands of covering the crisis.

Additional reporting by PA