ITV wields jobs axe
Mar 5 2009 By Alan Jones, The Journal
THE Government was last night urged to intervene to stop further "damage" to ITV programmes after the broadcaster announced 600 job cuts and huge efficiency savings.
The company blamed the "short-term horrors" of the recession, including a slump in advertising, for the cuts which will account for 15% of its workforce and the closure of a studio in Leeds.
ITV will also sell its Friends Reunited social networking website little more than three years after it bought the business for an initial £120m.
Executive chairman Michael Grade said: "These are unprecedented and extremely difficult times. We have to be focused more on our core business."
Drama output on ITV will be cut from eight hours a week to seven, with ITV already set to scale back production of Heartbeat and The Royal.
Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the broadcasting workers’ union Bectu, said he was "outraged" at the scale of the job cuts. The union believes one-off drama programmes planned from this autumn will now be shelved.
