One third of staff at Five, the terrestrial television channel, is going to lose jobs this week.

It is reported that around 100 jobs out of 350 would be made redundant as part of business restructuring to be announced on Thursday. ITV is also considering cutting 500 jobs when it will make announcement of annual results.

According to a senior media person, Five’s management, which has finalised its budget for the next year, has planned significant reduction in workforce. ITV is also gearing up for another job cut.

A spokesman from Five did confirm that staff would be told about company decision next week.

Broadcasters also have fallen victim to a big downturn in advertising revenues, which is estimated to have fallen by 20% over last year.

It was reported last week that ITV is planning creation of a major broadcasting rival to BBC. This will require merger of ITV, Five and Channel 4. According to industry experts the move could result in saving of £200 million per year to broadcasters through sharing of administration costs.

But a source close to Five informed that ITV had made no contact about the proposal and added that CEO, Dawn Airey of Bertelsmannn that owns Five, would not agree to merger.

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