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The BBC is to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in the biggest down-sizing of the public service broadcaster in 15 years.
Staff were to be informed of the cuts, which will affect about 10% of the BBC’s 21,500 staff, at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday.
The cuts, which are being set in motion before the former top Google executive Matt Brittin takes over as director general next month, represents the biggest round of BBC job cuts since 2011.
The corporation announced a £600m cost-cutting plan in February, warning that it would result in job losses and the end of some programming.
Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, said at the time that the BBC would need to cut 10% of its approximately £6bn annual cost base over the next three years.
Davie left the BBC on 2 April, having announced his resignation in November after controversy over coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.
Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s interim director general who is leading the all-staff meeting, first reported by the Financial Times, will continue to head the corporation until Brittin arrived on 18 May.
The BBC is in negotiations with the government over the renewal of its royal charter, which expires at the end of next year, including the licence fee funding mechanism.
The licence fee increased in line with inflation on 1 April, from £174.50 to £180 annually.
The corporation made £3.8bn from the collection of the licence fee last year from 23.8 million households, plus a further £2bn from commercial activities and grants.
However, licence fee paying households decreased by 300,000 year-on-year amid an increase in evasion and a rise in audiences only watching rival digital platforms, such as Netflix and Disney.
In February, Davie said the BBC was “holding our own” despite the challenges posed by the rise of streaming services and the impact of YouTube.
Last year, Ofcom, the media regulator, warned that public service television – made by the BBC, ITV and Channels 4 and 5 – was becoming an “endangered species” in the streaming era.
The BBC is seeking to expand its iPlayer service, including announcing a content deal with YouTube in January.
The BBC has previously said: “Over the last three years we have delivered more than half a billion pounds’ worth of savings, much of which we’ve been able to reinvest into our output across the BBC.
“In a rapidly changing media market, we continue to face substantial financial pressures. This is about the BBC becoming more productive and prioritising our offer to audiences to ensure we’re providing the best value for money, both now and in the future.”
