After last week's staff walkout at ITV, it seems that BBC programming could be hit in the same way after trade unions decided they had no option but to ballot for strike action.

Talks between trade unions and the BBC director general, Mark Thompson broke down last night. They are protesting at the loss of 4,000 jobs.

Bectu, Amicus and the National Union of Journalists said the BBC had refused to meet their demand that there should be no compulsory redundancies.

The BBC said it regretted the unions' decision and any action which affected services would penalise licence payers.

Luke Crawley, of Bectu, said the job losses represented the "most damaging cuts" in the BBC's history. He said under the plans up to 20% of staff jobs were being sold, outsourced or made redundant.

Mr Thompson has announced proposals to axe the posts over the next three years.

The corporation said the director general had explained the three-year plan would put over £350 million back into programmes and most of the job losses would be achieved through staff turnover and voluntary redundancies, but it could not rule out compulsory redundancies