Channel 4 has told staff to prepare for a big round of job cuts as it struggles with the impact of streaming on advertising revenues.
In a memo to staff, Alex Mahon, chief executive, said the broadcaster was having to deal with an extremely uncertain economy in the short term “and the need to accelerate our transformation to become a genuinely digital public service broadcaster in the long term”.
“What we are doing now is accelerating our existing plans to weather the sharp and protracted advertising slowdown that has hit the whole industry,” she wrote.
Mahon and senior management at the broadcaster declined a pay rise and deferred bonuses last year as part of the savings drive.
Programming has also been cut back with own-produced programmes such as Steph’s Packed Lunch canned as part of the cost-cutting.
TV advertising makes up around about two-thirds of the broadcaster’s total revenues but has been in decline with the proportion taken by digital and film revenues rising.