Sky layoffs: Comcast-owned British media group to cut nearly 2,000 jobs in 2025 amid call-centre shake up

Sky Layoffs: The British-based Sky broadcasting group announced on March 27, that 2,000 jobs in the UK, or seven per cent of its workforce, could be at risk as the company shakes up its customer services. "We're transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler, and more digital customer service," a spokesperson for the US-owned broadcaster told global news agency AFP.

It was about building "a future-ready Sky", the spokesperson said, adding customers wanted different ways of contacting the company 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to AFP, three of its 10 contact centres in northern England are believed to be closing, putting around 2,000 roles at risk.

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Sky layoffs in 2025

While customers wanted to be able to speak directly to an adviser, they also wanted the flexibility to pay bills or manage their contract digitally, the company said. Sky said its transformation would involve a multi-million-pound investment in its new state-of-the-art campus in Livingston, Scotland.

Formerly owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, Sky has been run by US cable giant Comcast since 2018. According to the AFP report, in addition to the proposed closure of the Stockport, Sheffield and Leeds Central contact centres, operations at Dunfermline and Newcastle would also be likely affected.

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Layoffs in US

Elon Musk, the billionaire running President Donald Trump’s federal cost cutting effort, said he plans to slash $1 trillion in government spending by the end of May. Musk, in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, said he believes that his Department of Government Efficiency can find that level of cost savings within 130 days from the start of Trump’s term, which began on Jan. 20.

That presents an ambitious goal that would require slashing more than half of the $1.8 trillion the US spent on non-defense discretionary programs in 2024. Musk is a special government employee, a classification for temporary federal workers who are only supposed to work 130 days out of the year in their roles.

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Musk said he wants to cut 15 per cent of the government’s annual spending — which amounted to $6.75 trillion in fiscal year 2024. That’s a reduction of about $1 trillion. The tech giant's leader says he is confident he can slash that amount “without affecting any of the critical government services.”