Channel 4 plans to slash as many as 200 London jobs as broadcaster’s restructuring continues
Channel 4 is planning to slash up to 200 jobs in its largest mass culling in over 15 years amid a steep advertising decline and high content bills. Most of the affected positions are expected to be London-based roles.
Chief executive Alex Mahon confirmed the potential job threat in an internal email on Monday, impacting the broadcaster’s 1,200-strong staff, as first reported by the Guardian.
Channel 4 is seeking to shrink a hefty £108m annual wage bill while minimising the need for deep cuts to its colossal £700m content budget.
It is understood the cuts will primarily target London-based staff. The restructuring, initiated late last year, comes as the public service broadcaster aims to increase its workforce in the nations and regions from 500 to 600 by 2025.
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “Like every organisation, we are having to deal with an extremely uncertain economy in the short term and the need to accelerate our transformation to become a wholly digital public service broadcaster in the long term.
“As a result, we need to continue to divest from our linear channels business and simplify our operations to become a leaner organisation.
“This will enable us to invest more in our digital future and in our remit to make distinctive and disruptive British content, increasingly focused on streaming and social channels,” they added.
Digital advertising on Channel 4’s streaming service makes up around a quarter of the broadcaster’s £1.14bn total revenue.
But in November Mahon told the culture committee that Channel 4 was in “shock territory” as it faced with the steepest advertising downturn in 15 years, coupled with a shift in consumer behaviour favouring streaming and on-demand services.
The state-funded broadcaster has had a “really difficult year”, in which a predicted fourth-quarter recovery has failed to materialise, she said in the House of Commons.
Mahon added that Channel 4 expects the next two years to be loss-making due to a 14 per cent decline in traditional TV ad revenues.