BBC could cull your favourite TV and radio stations: "We wouldn't guarantee any programme or channel will exist forever"

The BBC is currently on a drive to save more than half a million pounds from its running costs, which is leading it to make some difficult decisions on your favourite shows, TV channels and radio stations in the UK.

On top of this, it is committed to shifting its broadcast model to a more digital-centric model, with the eventual aim of becoming a digital-first broadcaster. And this has lead its new director general, Matt Brittin, to admit that some terrestrial TV channels might soon close or switch to iPlayer only.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on her BBC One show this Sunday, the former boss of Google Europe said the corporation "wouldn't guarantee any programme or channel will exist forever", and that decisions might be made "sooner than we might like".

Brittin also explained (via BBC.co.uk) that audiences are already switching to BBC iPlayer to watch the same content: "We might have some channels and services where maybe 100,000 people are watching the broadcast service, but 500,000 are getting those programmes on iPlayer," he said.

In that case, it might make logical sense to move them to online-only.

"We're locked into yesterday's model of how people consume content, and actually the audience is always already living in tomorrow's world," he added.

The BBC and AI

Worryingly, while the broadcaster contemplates staff losses and the closure of services, this might not be the end to the cuts. Brittin also has an eye on the ways AI could be used through the corporation: "We want to experiment with this technology and understand what it can and can't do," he explained.

However, the director general also believes it is no replacement for human creativity: "I don't think anything we do should be replaced by AI," he revealed.

"I think there are lots of places where AI can help us make the licence fee go further... but it's not a substitute for humans."