ITV has announced that the company is entering a consultation process with its soap staff over redundancies amid the recent Coronation Street and Emmerdale schedule change. The broadcaster announced on Tuesday that the two soaps will undergo a huge shake-up next year, with fans getting a total of five hours a week rather than the six that currently air. Emmerdale will air for half an hour every day at 8pm, followed by a half-hour episode of Coronation Street straight after at 8:30pm - which ITV is dubbing its soap 'power hour'.

The change in soap schedule means that the company will downsize its soap staff, with a TV insider revealing that 12 percent of the staff could be made redundant. The insider told The Mirror that 75 roles are expecting to be made redundant out of the 600 people working across both Coronation Street and Emmerdale. "From 2026, and if the proposals are agreed, through consultation we would expect around 75 roles to be made redundant," they said. "ITV always looks to minimise the impact of a reduction in roles by not filling vacancies and through voluntary redundancy.".

A spokesperson for ITV said: "We can't say for sure at this stage as we will be entering into a consultation process with staff. Our aim is to achieve as many as we can through voluntary redundancy and filling vacancies.". Currently, Emmerdale airs every day with half an hour episodes, with a special hour each Thursday. Meanwhile, Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm for an hour.

This will change in 2026, with ITV's Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Kevin Lygo saying that the schedule switch-up is viewer-led. "We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them, in the most digestible way," he said. "In a world where there is so much competition for viewers' time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows.

"Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30 minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution.". He added: "This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six. We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team. We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people.

"These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term. They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market.". Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .