From Media Guardian

The BBC today confirmed the first job cuts following last year's licence fee settlement, with more than 50 posts to be lost at BBC Monitoring.

Staff across the BBC are bracing themselves for hundreds of job cuts in the coming weeks and months after the hastily negotiated funding deal with the government, which will see the licence fee frozen at £145.50 and the corporation's income cut by 16% in real terms by 2017.

BBC Monitoring, the division responsible for supplying information on the output of TV, press and internet outlets around the world, is to lose 72 posts – 16% of its staff – although 18 new positions will also be created.

The job losses are part of moves to cut £6m over two years from BBC Monitoring's £23.2m annual budget.

As part of the licence fee deal, the BBC is taking over responsibility for funding BBC Monitoring from the Cabinet Office in 2013.

"Regrettably service cuts and post closures are inevitable given the scale of the cut in funding from the Cabinet Office. We are now beginning a period of consultation with staff on our proposals," said the BBC Monitoring director, Chris Westcott.

BBC Monitoring employs about 450 people in the UK and overseas, with a main base at Caversham Park in Reading. It tracks and translates press, TV and radio reports from 150 countries in more than 100 languages.

It is understood that the BBC is close to announcing job losses at the World Service as part of a cost-cutting move that will see the Bush House newsgathering teams merged with the corporation's domestic news operation. The BBC will take over funding the World Service in 2014 from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Last week the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, told staff that he intends to seek cuts of 20% over four years, more than the required 16% resulting from the new funding deal agreed with the government.

Full story at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/17/bbc-monitoring-job-cuts