BBC cuts made to Radio Foyle to be approved by Ofcom

The communications regulator Ofcom is set to approve cuts to BBC Radio Foyle, already made by the BBC.

Ofcom previously found the corporation had breached its operating licence by cutting about 300 hours of news and current affairs on Radio Foyle.

The UK’s communications regulator had called the breach “a potentially serious matter”.

The BBC has now formally applied to the regulator to amend its operating licence to reflect changes it made to Radio Foyle’s output.

In 2023, the BBC cut its two-hour breakfast show on Radio Foyle down to 30 minutes in a number of schedule and programme changes.

It made the move as part of a decision to invest more in BBC Northern Ireland’s online and digital services, including BBC iPlayer.

But the cuts led to a number of protests.

In early 2024, the programme – called North West Today – was extended to an hour each weekday from 08:00 to 09:00.

Under the terms of its operating licence, the BBC was required to deliver 1,043 hours of news and current affairs on Radio Foyle every year.

But the cuts to Radio Foyle’s output meant it only broadcast 651 hours of news and current affairs on the station in 2023/24.

That led to Ofcom ruling the BBC had breached a condition of its operating licence.

According to Ofcom, the BBC told the regulator the mistake was due to an “internal miscommunication”, which meant programmes broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster were mistakenly included when calculating its output for Radio Foyle.

The BBC has now submitted a formal request to Ofcom to reduce its news and current affairs quota for BBC Radio Foyle from 1,043 hours to 710 hours each financial year.

According to documents published by the regulator, the BBC has said the changes it has already made have benefitted audiences.

“Following the changes, the BBC states that on average, it broadcast 1.1 more local stories per hour on North West Today than it did on Breakfast on Foyle,” the documents state.

“It also broadcast more stories overall per hour on North West Today compared with Breakfast on Foyle.”

The BBC also said the changes had “improved its online offering” and had improved coverage of the north-west on the BBC News NI website.

The corporation said that in 2024/25 it had published 449 stories from Foyle on BBC News NI, a rise of 15% in two years.

According to Ofcom, about two-thirds of people in Northern Ireland get their news online and/or from TV, while fewer than half (46%) get their news from radio and social media.

Ofcom is now consulting on changing the BBC’s operating licence to reflect the changes to Radio Foyle, but the regulator said that “we propose, subject to consultation, to agree to the BBC’s request”.

The regulator said it considered the changes would have “a neutral to positive impact on audiences”.

“In respect of the BBC Radio Foyle proposals, we note that the changes the BBC has made have already led to increases in the number of stories about the north-west of Northern Ireland on the service,” Ofcom said.

“We consider that the BBC delivering more local news content online, whilst at the same time delivering focused local news on BBC Radio Foyle, has the potential to benefit audiences and may help promote good relations between people from different communities.”

However, Ofcom is currently consulting on its approval of the BBC’s changes to Radio Foyle – and the Asian Network – and is seeking views from the public until 26 June.