BBC News anchors start learning they’re out of a job

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Following a previously announced decision to merge its 24-hour U.K. news channel with a similar one serving the entire world, BBC has started announcing anchors who will lose their anchor spots.

Jane Hill, Martine Croxall, Ben Brown, Annita McVeigh, Geeta Guru-Murthy and Shaun Ley are among the presenters who will lose their roles, reported Deadline.

That publication previously noted that David Eades, Joanna Gosling and Tim Willcox opted to take “voluntary redundancy” offers, which are similar to so-called “buyouts” and often contain a financial incentive to leave an outlet.

Hill, however, is expected to remain with the BBC and appear on BBC’s primary news bulletins that air in the U.K.

Additional departures are expected to be announced later.

At least some are likely to depart BBC altogether, though the broadcaster is allowing any who wish to apply for new correspondent positions being created to support the new combined venture. These positions will reportedly also have some in-studio presenting responsibilities.

Matthew Amroliwala, Yalda Hakim, Christian Fraser, Lucy Hockings and Maryam Moshiri will stay with the new, combined operation, which is part of a far-reaching plan to save over £1 billion in operating expenses as the BBC faces a license fee freeze and questions about the source of its funding in the future.

BBC is expected to merge is 24-hour BBC News channel targeted toward U.K. residents with the BBC World Service, an English-language feed that airs around the globe.

While both channels cover stories from around the world, the U.K.-focused will often put more emphasis on news from within the region.

The new, combined channel will take on the BBC News.

Because the same feed will largely be made available globally, it seems logical that its editorial format may be more similar to the current World Service product.

According to Deadline sources, top-earning anchors for the new BBC News channel make up to £230,000 (about $284,000).