Good Morning Britain hit as ITV cuts hundreds of jobs

Yahoo

20-05-2025

ITV is to cut hundreds of jobs across its most popular daytime TV shows as part of the broadcaster's scramble to cut costs.
In a radical restructuring unveiled on Tuesday, the channel told staff it plans to transfer production of its flagship breakfast programme Good Morning Britain (GMB) from its in-house studios division to ITN, the news production business it jointly owns with Channel 4 and Channel 5.
The move, which will merge GMB's production teams with those of ITV News, is expected to result in more than 220 redundancies – almost half the broadcaster's daytime staff.
The shake-up will also see ITV make sweeping changes to its daytime schedule. GMB, whose presenters include Susanna Reid and Ed Balls, will be extended by half an hour until 9:30am.
Lorraine, the current affairs show fronted by Lorraine Kelly, will be slashed in half to just 30 minutes.
Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women will also now air for just 30 weeks of the year, with plans for one team to produce all three shows from next year.
The shake-up underscores efforts to slash costs in daytime programming as traditional broadcasters grapple with an exodus of viewers to streaming rivals such as Netflix and Disney.
The public service broadcaster has already cut around 200 jobs in the past year and in March, bosses outlined plans to strip a further £60m out of the business.
GMB has also been falling in popularity in recent years.
The show pulled in an average audience of more than 1m prior to Piers Morgan's dramatic departure in 2021, but has since slid to around 700,000 and is lagging behind key rival BBC Breakfast.
ITV is also receiving interest from a growing number of suitors over a potential takeover that could see the channel broken up or sold entirely.
RedBird IMI, the UAE fund blocked from taking control of The Telegraph, has approached the broadcaster about a potential merger with All3Media, the production company behind The Traitors, which it acquired for £1.2bn last year.
Banijay, the French production behemoth whose hits include Big Brother, MasterChef and Peaky Blinders, has reportedly also held early-stage discussions about a possible tie-up.
Discussions over a potential break-up have sparked concerns among MPs about the sustainability of ITV's traditional broadcasting business and potential cuts to its local news programming.
Sources close to ITV insisted that the daytime overhaul was unrelated to any possible deal.
Instead, they said the broadcaster will reinvest the savings into big-hitting dramas such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office, as well as major sporting events.
The shake-up also comes amid calls for greater support for traditional broadcasters in the face of deep-pocketed US rivals.
High-profile figures across the industry have warned of a funding crisis facing traditional TV that they say puts quintessentially British dramas at risk.
Patrick Spence, the former ITV executive who produced Mr Bates vs The Post Office, has said there is 'absolutely no chance' the programme would get funding now.
The crisis has prompted calls by MPs for a 'Netflix tax' on streaming companies to help fund British shows. However, ministers have ruled out a levy.
Kevin Lygo, ITV's head of media and entertainment, said: 'Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.
'These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.'