BBC to cut more than 1,000 jobs to cover £150m licence fee losses
The BBC will cut over 1,000 jobs due to a £150m shortfall in its licence fee income, director Lord Tony Hall has confirmed.
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With the number of households owning television sets falling as audience's consumption practices change, the broadcaster's income from license fee subscriptions has diminished.
The BBC said the financial challenges "means additional savings must now be found" and that it aims to save £50m from the slim down.
Hall said creating a "simpler, leaner, BBC is the right thing to do and it can also help us meet the financial challenges we face.
"We've already significantly cut the costs of running the BBC," he explained, "but in times of very tough choices we need to focus on what really matters – delivering outstanding programmes and content for all our audiences."
Professional and support areas will be most affected by the cuts, management layers will be removed and the number of its overall divisions reduced as part of Hall's wide-ranging attempts to improve efficiency and make savings at the broadcaster.
Wage restraints, pay-off caps and a reduction in senior managers have already been implemented as part of his remodelling plan. Properties have also been vacated and sold off in order to cut costs – last month its Media Village site in White City was sold and sublet for £87m.
The £145.5 annual licence fee has been an issue of much contention in recent weeks, after culture secretary John Whittingdale called it "regressive" and argued it hit the poor the hardest.
However, Hall has said the licence fee has got "10 years life in it".