Jobs lost in BBC shake-up

SPORTS and current affairs station Radio 5 Live is to become the BBC's first national channel to broadcast permanently from outside London.

It will move to Manchester in a shake-up to be announced this week by the Corporation's director-general, Mark Thompson.

Children's digital TV channels CBBC and CBeebies, the Match of the Day programme and 1,500 staff will also make the move following Thompson's reviews of the BBC's future.

Insiders expect the reviews to result in several thousand job losses, but Thompson will disappoint those who expect a big sell-off of the BBC's commercial assets.

Thompson will set targets for cuts in each division to be carried out by March.

BBC insiders admit that staff morale is 'very low'. Departments such as human resources, finance, legal, strategy, marketing and communications are expected to be hit hard by job cuts.

Thompson will rule out the sale of BBC Worldwide's TV interests and the division's magazine arm, dominated by Radio Times, though it will be kept under review.

He is also expected to announce that BBC Broadcast, which provides facilities to launch and promote programmes, will be sold.

BBC Resources, provider of outside broadcast facilities and costumes, will be offloaded or will seek a joint venture partner.

BBC Learning, including language learning publications and the BBC's Audiobooks arm, may also seek a partner. The rest of the BBC's publishing division is unlikely to be sold.