As the BBC's widely reportedcuts were confirmed today, BBC Films fared better than other departments of the broadcasting giant.

BBC director general Mark Thompson confirmed that BBC Films would get an extra $4m (£2m) investment annually, on top of its current $20m (£10m) annual budget.

That's far less than BBC Films had hoped for in February 2006, when the broadcasting giant had predicted that by 2008 the budget for its film arm would rise to $40m (£20m) annually. That increase was contingent on a favourable licence fee resolution, which didn't come to fruition last year.

But, on the flip side, the news isn't as dire as it is in other parts of the Beeb. Overall, Thompson plans to cut 1,800 jobs, with cuts coming mostly from news and factual programming.

The new $24m (£12m) figure compares with $20m (£10m) annually at Film4 - a larger percentage of Channel 4's budget. But industry sources noted that the $24m at BBC Films would be partially used for overhead costs, unlike the $20m at Film4.

David Thompson recently departed his post as BBC Films, and as previously reported, the films department is being restructured under Controller of Fiction Jane Tranter.

Tranter has created a new four-member board to head BBC Films, comprised of Christine Langan (commissioning editor, BBC Films), Jamie Laurenson (executive producer, BBC Films), Joe Oppenheimer (executive producer, BBC Films) and Jane Wright (commercial affairs and general manager, BBC Films).

Tranter had said several weeks ago that the staff of BBC Films would move from its current home in London's Mortimer Street to BBC Television Centre further west in White City. But Thompson said today that the BBC plans to sell Television Centre.