BBC Three, BBC Scotland TV channels and Radio 4 Extra to close in spring as BBC cuts £500m

The BBC will close its BBC Three and BBC Scotland television channels and the Radio 4 Extra radio station in the spring of 2027, moving them online as it tries to save £500 million over two years, the corporation announced on Tuesday 20 October. At today's rate of about Rs 369 to the pound (see our pound to rupee page), that saving is roughly Rs 184 billion.

What closes and where the shows go

The nightly bulletin Reporting Scotland: News at Seven will not move to iPlayer and ends when the channel closes, the BBC said.

Director-general Matt Brittin said the corporation had to "make every pound work harder for audiences" and that this "means tough choices". He added that much of the content would still be found "where audiences already enjoy them on iPlayer and Sounds", while admitting the news "will be hard for audiences and colleagues".

Second time off air for BBC Three

BBC Three, aimed at younger viewers and home to hits such as Fleabag and Gavin & Stacey, has been here before: it went online-only in 2016 and returned as a broadcast channel in 2022. BBC Scotland launched as a channel in 2019. Both now broadcast only in the evenings, and some of their shows are repeats from the main BBC channels. Variety reported the closures as part of the same savings drive.

Part of 1,800 to 2,000 job cuts

The BBC is cutting between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs, almost one in ten, under what it calls "significant financial pressures". About 550 job closures have already been announced in news and more than 30 in BBC Sport. It has also dropped programmes including RuPaul's Drag Race UK, Blankety Blank, Celebrity Mastermind, Live at the Apollo, Football Focus and Ski Sunday.

What it means for viewers in Pakistan

BBC Three and BBC Scotland were never on Pakistani cable, and iPlayer is geo-blocked outside the UK, so nothing changes here directly. The shows that matter to audiences in Pakistan, such as BBC World News and BBC Urdu, are not part of this announcement. For the many British Pakistani families in the UK, BBC Three's younger-audience shows will now be found on iPlayer and YouTube instead of a channel number.

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