LONDON: The BBC said on Wednesday that the British broadcasting corporation is set to cut up to 2,000 jobs amid a challenging media landscape.
The BBC´s interim director-general Rhodri Talfan Davies said in a statement to staff that “while we still have to work through the detail, we anticipate the overall number of jobs will fall by 1,800-2,000”.
The BBC reported the cuts on Wednesday afternoon, saying they amount to “almost one in 10” jobs, since it has about 21,500 employees.
The acting director-general said in a message to staff, sent to AFP, that this was because the BBC faces “significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to at pace”.
“Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing,” said Talfan Davies, who has taken on the role temporarily.
“Inevitably, these plans will also mean reducing the number of jobs in the BBC,” he added in a message that he said followed an all-staff call. The BBC has to cut £500 million from its operating costs of £5 billion “over the next two years”, the director-general said.
The BBC had previously said it has to find ways to shave 10 per cent off its costs over the next three years.
The job cuts will be the biggest round of redundancies at the broadcasting corporation in almost 15 years, ITV News and The Press Association (PA) news agency reported
