Britain's Telegraph to cut 80 print jobs, add digital positions

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Telegraph Media Group intends to cut 80 print jobs as part of a plan to merge its daily and Sunday newspapers and focus on its digital business, management said in a letter to staff on Tuesday.

The 80 jobs lost at newspapers The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph would be mostly print-based, editorial positions, while other areas of the business would be reviewed in due course, the letter said.

"(Our editorial operation) will be merged into one unified operation, serving digital and print products on a 24/7 basis," said an extract of the letter, seen by Reuters.

The group said it was creating 50 new "digitally focused" positions over the next six months as "a strong and positive sign of our faith in the future".

The announcement signals the latest move by a British broadsheet to merge weekly and Sunday titles to cut costs to weather a decline in print sales and advertising, as readers increasingly consume news online.

The Financial Times said in January it planned to cut a net total of around 25 jobs as part of a restructuring plan to concentrate on digital services.

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian; editing by Jason Neely)