BBC Trust Rejects Closure Plans For 6 Music

After months of campaigning by fans and musicians alike, the BBC Trust has announced this morning, July 5, that BBC 6 Music has been given a reprieve. The good news was announced by a joyful Lauren Laverne on her show, reporting the BBC Trust regarded the station as "well-liked" and "highly distinctive", and that the case for closure had not been made.

The Trust said in a statement, "The Trust concludes that, as things stand, the case has not been made for the closure of 6 Music. The Executive should draw up an overarching strategy for digital radio. If the director general wanted to propose a different shape for the BBC's music radio stations as part of a new strategy, the Trust would consider it."

It was widely reported in recent days that the announcement would be made, with BBC director-general Mark Thompson saying on the BBC's 'Andrew Marr Show,' "We've got big questions about the future of digital radio and one of the things I expect the Trust will say is let's look at the whole future of digital radio.

"Let's talk to commercial radio and make sure we've got a portfolio of radio stations."

In March, it emerged that 6 Music -- along with fellow digital broadcast station the Asian Network -- had been selected for closure, pending confirmation from the corporation's governing body, the BBC Trust.

The Asian Network has, unfortunately, not been given a similar lifeline, with the Trust stating, "The Trust would consider a formal proposal for the closure of the Asian Network, although this must include a proposition for meeting the needs of the station's audience in different ways."