BBC’s financial woes, Threads for news media – weekly news digest

Threads, Meta’s text-based social platform, is set to launch in the European Union in December. The service wasn’t available in the EU since its launch in June because of the company’s initial concerns over local privacy regulations, which it appears to have addressed since then. The platform is expected to arrive in the EU sometime this month.

“The launch represents Threads’ largest market expansion since its debut in July and signals the social-media company’s commitment to the microblogging service, which rivals that of Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter”, The Wall Street Journal, which reported on the plans first, notes.

At the same time, some major publishers back in the US are wary of investing significant resources in growth on Threads, Digiday reports.

“News publishers are cautious to pour more resources into Threads… and don’t have plans to do so in the near future as limited data available to their social and audience development teams makes it difficult to determine whether investing more into the platform is worth it”, the publication writes based on conversations with The New York Times, CNN, and The Boston Globe. Despite positive signs that indicate growth, Threads remains a place for experimentation rather than a major driver of traffic or revenue.

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The BBC might face additional financial struggles as it’s likely to receive a below-inflation rise in the licence fee, the main source of the broadcaster’s revenue, according to a report from The Guardian citing UK culture secretary Lucy Frazer. 

The fee, which is a de-facto annual tax paid by UK citizens to fund the BBC, is currently set at £159; the government appears unwilling to go ahead with adjusting it to inflation because of the rising cost of living in the country.

“A below-inflation increase would require further cuts to staffing and programmes, such as last week’s decision to halve the staffing levels on Newsnight, the BBC’s flagship weekday current affairs programme”, The Guardian notes.

In a longer-term perspective, the BBC’s funding model is in question with publicised plans to do away with the licence fee model altogether in favour of other funding mechanisms for the broadcaster. The BBC’s royal charter, which lays out its funding mechanism, is up for renewal in 2027.

Quick links — Two more news stories worth your attention:

• The Guardian: “US says Russia rejected deal to free detained Americans”, including The Wall Street Journal’s reporter Evan Gershkovich  
• Reuters: “News Corp’s UK papers settle phone-hacking claims with high-profile figures”

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