By Barry Walsh 

A version of this story was originally published by Kidscreen sister publication Realscreen. 

UK pubcaster the BBC is set to make a range of sweeping cuts—in the neighborhood of one in 10 jobs—in order to achieve US$678 million in savings over the next two years.

The corporation says the job losses will impact between 1,800-2,000 of its current 21,500 employees. It’s the biggest round of layoffs since 2011, when a plan was announced under then-director general Mark Thompson to cut up to 2,000 jobs over five years.

In an email to staff published in part by BBC News, interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies said: “As you know, the BBC is facing significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to with pace.

“Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing. This is being driven by a number of factors: production inflation remains very high; our licence fee and commercial income is under pressure; and the global economy remains turbulent.”

Davies continues in the DG role until the arrival of former Google executive Matt Brittin in mid-May. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Media Show, he said the corporation needs to “look at everything” when it comes to trimming costs, including the potential loss of certain channels or services.

“We need to look at everything…inevitably there are going to be some big and some difficult choices, but we do need to step through this carefully,” he told the Media Show, according to a report from BBC News.

Thus far, BBC staff have not been informed of who, or what departments specifically, will be impacted. According to UK trade Broadcast, in the short term, the BBC will be reining in recruitment and travel and also trimming spend on management consultancies and appearances at awards, conferences and events.

Image courtesy of Alexander Svensson via Flickr.