BBC News faces axe as viewers move online

\'BBC News at Six\' and \'BBC News at Ten\' could both be axed as viewers have shifted online.

Director of BBC News Fran Unsworth has warned the daily news coverage programmes could switch to digital platforms in the next ten years as more people are getting the latest updates through their phones and tablets.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, she said: "Ultimately, in 10 years\' time, we probably won\'t be consuming linear bulletins.

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"I might be wrong about that but I doubt it. There might be one [bulletin] a day, but video will just be in a different space... you know, iPlayer, your tablet, your iPhone."

However, one of the BBC\'s flagship news programmes could remain on air for a while yet, after ratings doubled during the coronavirus pandemic.

In March, five of the 10 most-watched broadcasts were the \'BBC News At Six\', which attracted 8.3 million viewers on March 23, whilst the \'News At Ten\' bulletin had reported viewings of six million.

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But Unsworth doubts the large figures of young people tuning in will stick around.

She continued: "They\'re sitting down and watching a television bulletin in a way that I thought they weren\'t ever really going to again.

"You get these big peaks, the big stories like the Bataclan and London Bridge attacks, then the audience falls off again quite rapidly.

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"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."

It comes after the broadcaster decided to reduce \'BBC Newsround\' bulletins after 48 years on air in a bid to halt declining ratings amongst younger audiences.

Instead, the BBC has decided to move most of its children\'s content online as Ofcom warned bosses that public support for the licence fee could be eroded if younger audiences stop engaging.