A FAN-FAVOURITE Good Morning Britain host has swerved the axe in ITV’s cost-cutting bloodbath.
The commercial network has announced that it will make savage cuts to its daytime schedule from January.
Good Morning Britain’s production will merge with ITV News from January[/caption]
A source revealed that his slots are popular with viewers[/caption]
However, we can now reveal that Good Morning Britain’s showbiz guru Richard Arnold will keep his job amid ITV’s sweeping changes.
It comes as some 220 workers on the flagship breakfast show, Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning face redundancies as the channel streamlines operations.
Richard, 55, who has fronted GMB’s showbiz offering since it launched in 2014, has been told he will remain.
His team – known within the company as “RAP” for Richard Arnold production – are also all safe.
A source said: “Richard is one of ITV daytime’s best-loved faces never mind on GMB.
“Viewers enjoy his slots and he remains very much part of the furniture.”
The changes are part of ITV’s efforts to save money and reinvest in other programming areas.
As part of the restructure, Lorraine will be reduced to a 30-minute show whilst Good Morning Britain will be extended by 30 minutes.
Lorraine and Loose Women will air for only 30 weeks a year and GMB will be extended by another half an hour in the weeks where Lorraine is off.
As part of the changes, ITV announced that the production of the flagship breakfast show will be transferred to ITV News within the ITN base at London‘s Gray’s Inn Road.
It has been reported that more than a dozen roles are expected to be cut due to ‘certain back office roles’ that are duplicated within the teams of GMB and ITV News.
The cuts are expected to save ITV up to £50 million.
Laura Wilshaw, editor of ITV News reportedly sent an email to staff where she revealed that the show would be produced on a “reduced overall budget.”
However, she apparently stated that the intention was to continue to “faithfully recreate the Good Morning Britain programme viewers love as much as we can”.
ITV’s daytime TV schedule changes in full
Good Morning Britain will be extended by 30 minutes to run from 6am to 9.30am daily.
Lorraine will run from 9.30am-10am, on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year.
During the weeks Lorraine is not on air, Good Morning Britain will run from 6am to 10am.
This Morning will remain in its 10am-12.30pm slot on weekdays throughout the year.
Loose Women will be in the 12.30-1.30pm slot, again on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year.
The changes will take effect from January 2026.
This comes as it was revealed that current Deputy Editor Daniel Robinson will step up to be the new programme editor.
Long-serving Editor Neil Thompson will take up a new high-profile role as Commissioning Editor of Breakfast News.
His team, known within ITV as RAP – Richard Arnold’s Producers – are also safe from the cuts[/caption]
GMB will be extended by half an hour once the scheduling changes come into effect[/caption]
