BBC's Thompson 'Putting Quality First'

Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC has announced a major shake-up at the corporation in regards to "putting quality first".
The upgrade will see an extra £600m being invested into programme-making with 90p of every licence fee £1 used.
The main cuts are to be made across radio and online services with 25% less being spent on BBC online by 2013.
Five main corporation policies were outlined during the course of the conference which focused on; providing the best journalism in the world; inspiring knowledge, music and culture; ambitious UK drama and comedy; outstanding children’s content and events that bring communities and the nation together.
Among the closures will be teen services Switch and Blast, with Thompson admitting Channel 4 should lead the way with these audiences. He also confirmed plans to close radio 6 Music and Asian Network at end of 2011.
Radio 2 was advised to "sharpen its distinctiveness in its range of music and speech" and Thompson proposed sharing more programmes across outlets during off-peak periods.
The BBC review has now been submitted to the BBC Trust for wider consultation.
Recently, the corporation has been heavily criticised by union representatives at BECTU who said: "BECTU will be opposing the closure of the services identified as at risk."
Gerry Morrissey and Jeremy Dear are due to meet Mark Thompson, Director General, tomorrow ahead of a meeting of the National Joint Council (NJC) on the 11th March.
The NJC brings together senior BBC management and senior representatives from the recognised unions, BECTU, the NUJ and Unite.
(BMcN/GK)