BBC Wales director says tough goal to find £9m savings

Rhodri Talfan Davies says savings must be planned carefully to ensure services are not harmed

The savings BBC Cymru Wales has to make over the next five years are "tough", its director has told AMs.

Rhodri Talfan Davies said BBC Wales had been "going through this savings wringer" for nine years.

The broadcaster is aiming to save £9m by 2022, against the background of a "cash-flat" licence fee agreement.

Mr Davies told a committee that new investment, particularly in English language television, was planned but the savings must be identified first.

He said he hoped £3m could be saved from efficiencies as a result of the organisation's move to new premises in Cardiff city centre, and a further £3m from management costs and procurement.

That would leave £3m worth of savings to be found in "content areas".

"It doesn't mean necessarily cuts in services, it may mean we can identify further efficiencies," Mr Davies told the assembly's Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee.

"But it's tough because we've been going through this savings wringer for the last nine years.

"That's why we've got to do this carefully, because the last thing the committee's going to thank us for is to secure new investment in one part of the forest whilst you see a diminution of service in others."

Earlier on Thursday, S4C chief executive Ian Jones admitted to the committee that the number of repeats on the Welsh language channel was "far too high" at 57% of its output.