1000 BBC staff sacked by VHS

BBC chief Mark Thompson has used a video cassette message to announce the Corporation's biggest-ever jobs cull.

Staff in the BBC's 3,200-strong professional services departments today (March 10) watched the 13-minute tape on TV monitors in disbelief as Thompson revealed a cuts plan in which 980 are to be made redundant, and another 750 handed over to new employers in outsourcing deals.