Strike fear as BBC cuts 1,800 jobs

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The British Broadcasting Corporation has announced massive job cuts, saying it plans to sack around 1,800 of its staff.

The BBC said Thursday it also plans to sell off BBC Television Centre, the corporation's landmark headquarters in west London, as part of efforts to plug a $4 billion budget deficit.

In a statement released on its Web site, the broadcaster said it will reduce its original output by 10 percent to focus on fewer, higher quality programs.

A total of 2,500 positions will go, with the BBC hoping to manage those with natural turnover and the creation of around 700 new posts. Many of the cuts will come in the areas of current affairs and news, with the elimination of redundancies caused by merging the BBC's television, radio and Internet operations in an attempt to adapt to the new digital media age.

Mark Thompson, the BBC director-general, told staff that the changes would mean "a smaller BBC, but one which packs a bigger punch because it is more focused on quality and the content that really makes a difference to audiences."

After the announcement unions representatives voted unanimously to ballot for strike action if the corporation fails to honor agreements with staff or negotiate with the unions.

Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said: "They must withdraw these plans, agree to a framework for negotiations or face the potential of strike action."

BBC, which is paid for by the public through a compulsory license fee, is trying to fill a funding shortfall after the British government awarded it a much reduced settlement earlier this year.

The NUJ said it is a mistake to target news and current affairs coverage for job cuts, since this is traditionally the most respected branch of the corporation.

"It seems the biggest cuts will be in the areas that both the public and the BBC's trustees themselves say they value the most in the BBC. It flies in the face of all the evidence," Dear said. E-mail to a friend