BBC Forced to Make Budget Cuts

As British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative coalition government makes drastic cuts to public spending, it has turned a critical eye on the BBC, accusing the broadcasting company of "extraordinary and outrageous waste." The company's annual license tax of roughly $240 on every British household with a television set brings in roughly 80 percent of the BBC's total income and has been widely frowned upon. The general consensus in Britain is that the BBC has grown too big and spends too much public money. So the company is now figuring out how to cut roughly $2.1 billion from its four-year spending plan ending in 2017. The company will have to save on everything from back-office expenses to online operations and even media coverage of major British events like Wimbledon (though they have 550 employees covering the royal wedding next week). More than 97 percent of the British public follow the BBC online, on TV, on the radio, or in print.