The BBC is set to cut 2,000 jobs in one of the biggest downsizing, for the first time in 15 years ahead of the arrival of its new director-general Matt Brittin.
The cut is set of affect around 10 per cent of the total 21,500 employees in the UK, according to a report in The Guardian. The BBC has, however, not officially announced the planned job cuts.
The senior staff were informed of the cuts during a meeting on Wednesday, while interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies expected to announce the redundancies.
Meanwhile, the BBC staff are expected to be told that about one in 10 could lose their jobs at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon, the Financial Times reported.
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The latest round of job cuts is the biggest the organisation had since 2011. It comes before former top Google executive Matt Brittin is set to take as the new director general next month. Brittin’s appointment comes as the organisation is going through a critical phase in its history.
BBC’s £600m cost-cutting plan
The BBC announced a £600m cost-cutting plan in February that included job reduction as part of its initiatives to bring down operational costs. It would also end some programme as per “substantial financial pressures”.
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Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, earlier said that the UK broadcaster would need to cut 10 per cent of its approximately £6 Billion annual cost base over the next three years.
Meanwhile, the BBC is negotiating with the government over the renewal of its royal charter, which expires at the end of next year.
In 2025, media regulator Ofcom said public service television, made by the BBC, ITV and Channels 4 and 5, was becoming an “endangered species” in the streaming era.