EXCLUSIVE: BBC director general Tim Davie has been quietly drawing up plans to save up to £100M ($131M) a year by radically reimaging the UK national broadcaster’s operations, Deadline can reveal.
Davie and a small team of executives have been working on Project Ada, a transformation plan that will shrink the BBC’s workforce so that the corporation can invest in digital resources and content. It is at the heart of Davie’s vision to reinvent the BBC so it can better compete with YouTube, Netflix, and AI giants, per multiple sources briefed on the proposals.
Named after Ada Lovelace, the pioneering 19th-century British mathematician, the project could result in thousands of non-content jobs — including HR, finance, legal, and operations — being outsourced to private sector companies. Although Project Ada is well advanced and has board support, no final decisions have been made on redundancies.
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Under the plans, the BBC is also exploring spinning off a potential commercial unit housing the digital teams that power services including iPlayer and the BBC Sounds app. Details are sketchy, but the unit is being referred to internally as BBC Media Tech, with sources suggesting that investment could be unlocked if it were unleashed on the private sector.
News of the transformation strategy will likely heighten unease among BBC staff at a turbulent time following the shock resignation of Davie earlier this month. The BBC is facing pressure to put Project Ada on ice, but those close to Davie said he will continue to pursue the vision vigorously in his final months because he believes the alternative is existential for the corporation.
Detractors have described Project Ada as “privatization by stealth” and complained that the work has soaked up so much of Davie’s time that he has taken his eye off editorial crises, including the Donald Trump Panorama edit, which led to his resignation. This was strongly refuted by the BBC.
There is also a feeling that the BBC should be focused on charter renewal talks with the government instead of contemplating a radical reorganization. Others said the two are inextricably linked. “We can’t ask for more public money if we are not getting our own house in order,” said a source.
Davie has already gone further than many of his predecessors in reducing the BBC’s public service workforce. He has cut 2,000 employees (roughly 10% of the workforce) over the past five years, with savings worth hundreds of millions being reinvested into higher-paid jobs with a digital focus. Davie’s allies said this was a notable part of his legacy, and Project Ada is another step in the same direction.
The BBC has not outlined the transformation proposals to employees in any meaningful way, but work has been ongoing for many months. Alongside Davie, chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva is driving the change. Those familiar with the plans said clues to the corporation’s thinking have made their way into the public domain, not least a report in The Guardian newspaper in July, which detailed outsourcing proposals. The Guardian said offshoring jobs was being considered, but BBC chiefs have been rowing back from this notion in talks with unions, saying jobs will be kept in the UK.
In April, the BBC board considered an agenda item titled “Consolidated Group Business Services,” which was pitched as a “significant opportunity” to “transform” the broadcaster’s “operating model and cost base” and allow it to deliver “future strategic goals.” Board members approved the plans in principle, per published minutes.
Then in September, the BBC published a “market engagement notice,” through which it sought input from potential suppliers who have helped companies “modernise core business services at pace” using “cloud, automation, data, and AI.” The notice, a step towards a formal procurement process, added: “We want to learn from those who’ve navigated digital disruption, built smarter operations, and reimagined services to meet changing audience and workforce needs using new technology, streamlining processes, and forming new partnerships.”
Davie himself also gestured at the plans in a speech in May, saying the BBC is looking to partner with tech players to improve the “media supply chain” that gets content from camera to screen.
Union Wants Project Ada Paused
Sources said Davie’s vision has faced opposition internally amid fears that the changes are high risk and low reward. The BBC’s CTO Peter O’Kane unexpectedly quit over the summer, raising eyebrows internally. One person told Deadline that O’Kane had concerns about the proposals, though a second person said there can be multiple reasons why people leave a job. O’Kane referred Deadline to the BBC press office when contacted for comment.
Bectu, the UK’s biggest television industry union, wants the plans to be parked. Philippa Childs, head of Bectu, said: “With charter renewal about to start and a power vacuum at the top of the organisation the last thing the BBC should be doing is looking at outsourcing. Especially as many of its recent problems can be traced back to work carried out by third parties.
“The BBC is at the heart of the government’s creative industry strategy – outsourcing and potentially offshoring large numbers of jobs runs totally counter to the growth agenda. It would also negatively impact the many opportunities the BBC provides for the creative workforce to develop world-class skills.
“Outsourcing large functions of the BBC, with the inevitable job cuts, would run counter to the public interest and could be hugely damaging to the unique role the BBC plays in UK PLC. At the very least, the BBC should pause this process until there is a new director general in place and the charter has been renewed.”
Davie’s message to staff this week appeared unambiguous: pedal to the floor. “I wanted to confirm that we will continue to deliver our current plans during this period. We have a clear strategy and should not slow down. We need to keep the BBC relevant in this new age,” he said in an email seen by Deadline.
A BBC spokesperson said: “While we wouldn’t comment on any speculation, we have made clear our ambition to innovate and transform to be able to invest in the content and services audiences love. To do this, we must accelerate our transformation and take advantage of opportunities in technology or with partners to strengthen our capabilities. Like many organisations, it’s routine to assess different options that could deliver these changes and it would be wrong to suggest decisions have been taken.”