26. 01. 2011
BBC shuts down Serbian, Albanian services
London, January 26, 2011 (BBC) - The BBC is due to outline its plans to close five of its 32 World Service language services.
Staff are due to be informed of the redundancy details on Wednesday, and it is thought that about 650 jobs will be lost from a workforce of some 2,400.
The Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services will be axed, as will English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa, in a bid to save GBP46m a year.
Unions have called the move "ferocious" and have condemned the "drastic cuts".
Last October, the government announced the BBC would take over the cost of the World Service from the Foreign Office.
The service, which started broadcasting in 1932, currently costs £272m a year, and has an audience of 241 million worldwide across radio, television and online.
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