TV3 IS TO seek up to 15 voluntary redundancies from its 250-strong workforce as part of a move to trim €2 million annually from its cost base in response to weakening advertising revenues.

It is understood that the independent terrestrial broadcaster, which is owned by UK private equity group Doughty Hanson, will offer staff up five weeks' pay for each year of service, with no cap on the number of years that will qualify for the package.

Staff were informed about the move yesterday at the station's Ballymount studios in southwest Dublin. They will have a week to apply for the redundancy package and departing staff are expected to leave the payroll in November.

"We really regret having to do a single redundancy," TV3 chief executive David McRedmond told The Irish Times. "The advertising market is weak and we have to manage things very tightly. This is us being prudent and managing our cost base going into the future."

TV3 said the redundancies would come from studio operations, news reporting and administration.

Sources in the advertising industry estimated that TV3's sales rose by about 14 per cent in the first half of this year but this growth is thought to have slowed sharply over the summer months, a trend experienced by most media here as the economy has moved into recession.

While its 2007 accounts have not yet been published, TV3 is thought to have increased its advertising sales last year by more than 10 per cent to €62 million, helped by the station's coverage of the Rugby World Cup. This year's growth is likely to be a low single-digit figure.

TV3 renewed its licence with the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) on September 19th for another 10 years. This will take the contract out until 2018, with a further five-year option subject to certain conditions being met.

Mr McRedmond said the broadcasting commission had been informed at the time of the contract renewal that it would be seeking a "low level of redundancies" within the business. He said the cuts would not affect Channel 6, the Irish TV station that it acquired recently.