The money saved from 2,900 job cuts, 400 of which will go in factual and learning, will be put into programme investment, specifically journalism, drama, comedy, music, learning, children and national events.
The BBC has confirmed that 1,800 staff will move to Manchester with the shift north affecting CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Sport, Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra.
New-media and research and development and formal learning, including the digital curriculum, are also going to Manchester.
Thompson moved to reassure staff who may be affected by job losses, outsourcing or job moves out of London by emphasising: "We will not be walking away from our responsibilities or the redundancy terms we offer. We will not abandon the annual pay round or walk away from the BBC's defined benefits pension scheme."
The annual savings target £320m within three years, which will be redirected into programme making.
The BBC said that it planned to retain its 25% statutory independent production company quota and said that it would reduce in-house production from over 70% to 60%.
Thompson: "My vision for the future of the BBC has three parts: a bold new programme and content strategy, based above or around the idea of excellence; a transformation of the BBC into a state-of-the-art digital broadcaster; and an irreversible shift in the culture of the BBC towards simplicity, opportunity and creativity."
The corporation's channel play-out and on-air design business, is to be sold in order to meet the cost-saving demands of the 10-year Royal Charter in 2006.
Thompson told staff recently that the support services are an important part of the organisation. "But if we can, we have to find ways of reducing the support to put more into programmes."
Counsellors are on stand-by at Television Centre to deal with staff who
are given three-month redundancy notices today.
The cull is due to four reviews into internal operations at the BBC and the BBC believes it will save millions of pounds as a result of the cuts.
The first concerned the future of the BBC's commercial divisions; BBC Worldwide, BBC Broadcast and BBC Resources, which it is considering selling either all or part of.
The second looked at content supply systems, which regulates who makes programmes.
The third review is considering whether the BBC should move more of its services out of London, as part of the BBC's aim to be more reflective of UK audiences in the regions.
The final review is examining whether the BBC is "value for money".
The reviews were ordered by Thompson on his first day as director general in May 2004.
In October, The Observer reported that around 10% of the 28,000 strong workforce could be axed, as well as an extra 1,500 jobs moved out of London.
Reports over the weekend suggested one in five (around 6,000) of the BBC's 28,000 staff, would go.
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