London, July 3 (RHC)-- The decrease in the number of people paying their TV license fee has hit the BBC, forcing the international broadcaster to take radical job cuts. As it faces a £150m-a-year-shortfall in funding, the BBC has decided to cut hundreds of jobs to become "leaner and simpler."

A BBC source anticipated the cuts to be "painful" to its 18,000 workforce and to senior and middle managers as well. "Having to find another £150m inevitably makes decisions even tougher, but the director general has always said he came here to make the BBC a simpler and leaner place," said the source. "None of this is easy, but his priority is what appears on screen and on the airwaves. Everything else must be reduced to a bare minimum."

The BBC has also faced growing pressure from the Conservative government with ministers recently threatening to shut down the broadcaster if it didn't deal with alleged right-wing charges of left-wing bias.

Changes were made to save money by capping payoffs and introducing pay restraints when director general, Tony Hall took his position two years ago. Almost 400 jobs were axed in July amid fears for a predicted £150m deficit in 2016-17. This was mainly due to the increased awareness of a loophole which allows people not to pay the license fee.

A BBC source said: "Change has come much faster than anyone predicted." As the government continues to search for ways to increase savings, BBC insiders fear its license fee funding will be the main target of the autumn spending review.