BBC Magazines has entered into redundancy consultation with a number of editorial staff as part of a restructuring of parts of the business.
The publisher told staff yesterday afternoon that a number of jobs were at risk. Press Gazette understands that about 30 jobs could go out of a total team of 470.
Children’s magazines are thought to be the area that will be the most affected – but the closure of individual titles has been ruled out.
In yesterday’s email to staff, BBC Magazines managing director Peter Phippen said: “The current climate is particularly tough for magazine publishers affected by falling advertising revenues, lower sales than anticipated, increased paper prices, and poor exchange rates.
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“So like many others, we continue to look at how best to structure our business to ensure we produce all of our titles as efficiently as possible, which is essential if we are to maintain a successful and profitable company.”
A BBC spokeswoman said a consultation period had begun and it was too early to confirm how the cuts would be implemented.
BBC Magazines pulled the plug on three of its children’s titles – Tweenies, Balamory and Amy – in March this year. But it is launching a new title, pre-school magazine Waybuloo later this month.
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Other titles in the BBC Magazines children’s stable include Doctor Who Adventures, In The Night Garden, Bob The Builder, Teletubbies, CBeebies Animals and Charlie and Lola.
According to the BBC Worldwide annual report, BBC Magazines made £177.9m in revenue in the 2007/08 financial year, up 3.9 per cent on the previous year.
Profit at the magazines division fell 15.7 per cent year on year to £16.7m – but profit from children’s magazines remained flat at £3.4m.
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