Battered BBC primed for further bombshell in 2005.

Marketing Week, December, 2004

It's been an eventful year at the Beeb and the drama is far from over. The latest grand plan is at the mercy of many uncertainties, says Torin Douglas

The year ends as it began: with the BBC in a state of great uncertainty. In January, the cause of anxiety was the imminent Hutton Report - with good reason, as it turned out. It led to the unprecedented departure of both the BBC chairman and the director- general. Now the new director-general has unveiled a grand plan for the corporation that is even more radical than predictions suggested.

To simplify the BBC's structure and save #320m a year, Mark Thompson is culling an initial 2,900 jobs, with the prospect of more to come, as more productions are put out to independent producers. A further 2,000...