The redundancies will comprise 15 jobs from Channel 4 and 15 staff from 4 Ventures. The remaining 50 will be found through the non-renewal of short-term contracts and the closure of unfulfilled posts.
The move is to help the channel cut costs by 20% in all areas except its programming budget. However, the channel has conceded its programming budget will be down 3% year on year, the first time it has been cut since Channel 4 launched 19 years ago.
Channel 4 acting chief executive and managing director David Scott said, "Keeping the 2002 programming budget close to this year's level will be a considerable achievement in difficult circumstances and should leave us in a strong position relative to our competitors next year, given that we have increased our programme spend by some 85% in the last six years."
4 Ventures is the holding company for the channel's commercial operations. Its businesses include cable and satellite channels E4 and FilmFour, its stake in the attheraces consortium (formerly Go Racing), its online operations, merchandising and publishing divisions, and TV distribution.
4 Ventures managing director Rob Woodward said, "Despite the difficult trading conditions we see considerable potential for continued growth in a number of our businesses and we remain committed to all our activities despite cutbacks in some areas."
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