Sky Sports News is set to make a number of well-known faces redundant as part of a transformation of the channel.
The broadcaster broke the news to shocked staff on Tuesday afternoon at their London headquarters.
Insiders have insisted that the move is not a cost-cutting measure while a spokesperson said it was aimed at ‘making us more agile and better equipped to serve audiences’.
It is thought a number of well-established reporters and presenters are to go.
The restructuring from the US-owned company has not been taken lightly, according to sources.
The priority, among bosses, is to ensure that the department adapts to meet the changing behaviours of audiences and is ‘faster, more flexible and more creative’.
Sky Sports News have made a raft of well-known faces redundant as they look to streamline coverage (pictured: Olivia Buzaglo, James Savundra, Dan Bardell, and David Reed)
The broadcasting team (presenters pictured on Wednesday morning’s coverage) make up the UK’s only 24/7 sports news channel
Sky Sports’ team of presenters – including Dharmesh Sheth (far right) – enjoy a team night out
Several of the presenters recently enjoyed a day out at the popular Cheltenham Festival
They insist that Sky Sports News, which is the UK’s only 24/7 sports news channel, will continue to focus on breaking news stories and that output will not be significantly altered. The redundancies are limited to presenters and reporters.
A Sky Sports News spokesperson said: ‘We’ve shared proposals with the Sky Sports News team to change how we’re structured, aimed at making us more agile and better equipped to serve audiences across TV, digital and social.
‘A small number of roles are impacted, and we are now entering a period of consultation with those colleagues.’
Geoff Shreeves, Martin Tyler and Bianca Westwood were among the talent to leave Sky Sports in 2023 due to job cutting.
Shreeves had given 30 years of service to Sky Sports as a touchline reporter while Tyler had been commentating for the channel for 33 years.