Has there been a thread about this yet? Decent couple of articles in the Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/02/bbc-accused-cutting-new-music-tv-proms
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/aug/28/birtwistle-nyo-prom-bbc-new-music-susanna-eastburn

There seems to be quite a lot of stigma and suspicion towards new music amongst audiences still anyway, so surely a public broadcaster should be going some way to alleviate this rather than compound it?

They even cut a 3 minute Birtwistle piece performed (very well) by the National Youth Orchestra because they said they 'didn't have enough time' to show it in a 90 minute broadcast, and filled the time with talking instead. This from the comment piece by Susanna Eastburn sums it up quite well:

"The BBC have been quick to confirm that it will be televised, as part of a special BBC Four programme on Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Birtwistle scheduled for 11 September, and that it is also available on the iPlayer. So that’s ok then. No, hang on, it’s not. For one thing, it speaks volumes about the BBC’s stance on new music, and audiences, that they feel the need to remove Birtwistle’s piece from a slot where it might have been discovered by a broader public, placing it instead in a special feature which, while it will no doubt be fascinating, will mostly attract viewers already interested in these composers."