The BBC is to announce it is cutting up to 600 jobs in its news and radio departments as part of its cost-cutting programme, according to a report in Forbes.
Next month, the Corporation is expected to announce that it will cut between 475 and 500 jobs from its news division, with a further 75 to 85 going from its UK radio operation.
Currently, BBC News employs around 8,000 people and if the cuts go ahead around 6% of the department is expected to go over the next two years.
The job cuts form part of the BBC’s ‘Delivering Quality First’ programme, which aims to save £800 million per year out of the BBC’s overall public-service income of around £3.6 billion.
The BBC’s director of news, James Harding, announced 75 job cuts in his division last year, but said that “further substantial savings” would have to follow.
A BBC spokesman said: “We’re working at present to deliver savings of £800 million a year by 2016/17 and we have said that there are difficult decisions ahead of us. Whilst we need to make savings, it would be wrong to comment on speculation.”