(Yicai Global) Dec. 17 -- Major Hong Kong media Television Broadcasts will cut 10 percent of its about 3,500 personnel as part of a plan to reorganize and speed up its business development in China's mainland, above all in the Greater Bay Area.

TVB will shed staff who mostly work in the stage, lighting, sound, set design and maintenance departments, Caixin Media reported, citing Chief Executive Mark Lee's corresponding notice to the company's workforce.

Formed in 1967, TVB produces more than 20 TV dramas a year and is popular with Hong Kongese and Chinese mainlanders. The broadcaster began to co-produce films and TV dramas with mainland video production companies in 2015 after many of its actors and producers had decamped to the mainland.

TVB will inform the workers to be discharged by the end of this year at the earliest and give them legally mandated compensation and further pay them special remuneration, the report said.

The company will invest more in operating facilities and resources. Its online pay-TV platform TVB Anywhere is releasing new products and services in Southeast Asia and North America, the report said, citing Lee.

The firm's revenue dropped 12 percent in the first half from a year earlier to CNY2 billion (USD286 million) and its advertising revenue fell 1 percent to CNY1.1 billion.

Editor: Ben Armour