Radio 5 Live Sports Extra will survive BBC review, says controller Adrian Van Klaveren

Adrian Van Klaveren, the BBC Radio 5 Live controller, expects his digital station 5 Live Sports Extra to survive the corporation's wide-ranging strategic review. The review of BBC operations, led by director general Mark Thompson, is expected to lead to cuts in content and some kind of programmes, including at its digital-only services . Digital TV channels BBC3 and BBC4 are expected to survive in their current form .Van Klaveren said today that he did not expect 5 Live Sports Extra to be affected. "I wouldn't see it that way," he said when asked if the station was under threat at Broadcasting Press Guild lunch today. "In terms of what 5 Live Sports Extra does, it is so closely tied with what 5 Live does. It is absolutely a service which runs completely alongside the main service and picks up things from the main service and uses them. "In terms of budget, Sports Extra works out very cheap. We use on Sports Extra things for which we already have the rights but are not able to schedule in full on 5 Live. "For Andy Murray's match on Tuesday [against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open quarter final], the team was in Melbourne anyway. It doesn't cost very much and an awful lot of Sports Extra programming falls in that category." Launched in 2002, 5 Live Sports Extra has more listeners than any other of the BBC's digital-only radio stations – even though it does not broadcast around the clock – and is also the cheapest to run. The station cost a total of £3.7m in 2009, up from £3.3m the previous year, and has an average weekly reach of 963,000 listeners. But Van Klaveren said there was no chance in the current climate that it would begin broadcasting 24 hours a day. Live sports coverage on the station includes Test match cricket, also broadcast on BBC Radio 4 long wave, Premier League football matches, tennis and American football. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".