The BBC is reducing its Introducing programs to 20 from 32 while upping online exposure for new acts. The move follows concerns raised by music-industry orgs about the future of the talent-development initiative.

Twenty new BBC Introducing programs will be broadcast on 39 local stations each week, and for the first time, the shows will be broadcast twice a week—on Thursday and Saturday evenings.

Emerging acts will figure prominently in the new "Local to Me" section on online portal BBC Sounds. An Introducing Artist of the Week will be featured on all 39 local stations. Highlighted tracks will receive peak-time airplay.

Said Chris Burns, BBC controller of Local Audio Commissioning, "We want to do more in our peak daytime schedules to showcase new talent. The Introducing shows on local BBC stations play an important part in supporting new talent and will continue to do so.”

Several music-industry trade bodies wrote an open letter to the BBC in January urging it to protect the future of BBC Introducing following the news that on-air personalities at local stations were at risk of layoffs.

Cutting local shows, the letter said, “would be a fundamental blow to the health of the entire grassroots sector. New and emerging artists already face significant obstacles to breaking into the music industry, challenges that are amplified for those artists and musicians living outside of the major cities."

According to the BBC, the changes are part of a wider plan to modernize its local services to deliver greater value to communities across the U.K. and that overall investment in local services is being maintained but changes have to be made to adapt to audience needs and “strike the best possible balance between live and on-demand services.”