Journalist and broadcast unions will resist compulsory redundancies at BBC Scotland after its director general, Tony Hall, announced that more than 1,000 jobs will go at the corporation in a new cost cutting exercise.

Hall said that the UK-wide changes were being forced by a drop in licence fee income of £150m in 2016/17.

This drop has been prompted by an increased number of households watching TV on iPlayer, mobile and online catch-up, with the number of households owning TVs falling.

The jobs are likely to be found in cutting layers of management at the BBC and merging divisions, but these measures will only account for £50m of the cuts.

No figures were available last night for how the cuts will affect BBC Scotland and its output, but unions representing staff at Pacific Quay, Bectu and the National Union of Journalists, said they would resist compulsory redundancies.

Paul McManus, Scottish organiser of Bectu, said: "Until more detailed work is done we do not know the full impact to our members in Scotland.

"We will engage in the consultation process with the intention of avoiding any compulsory redundancies."

The BBC licence fee of £145.50 has been frozen for seven years.

The BBC is already bracing for the results of negotiations with the government over its new charter, which runs out at the end of 2016.

Changes to make the BBC "simpler and leaner" including merging technology teams in digital, engineering and Worldwide.

Management layers will also be reduced.

In some areas of the corporation there are currently 10 layers of people and management and this will be cut to a maximum of seven in the future.

Hall said: "A simpler, leaner, BBC is the right thing to do and it can also help us meet the financial challenges we face.

"We've already significantly cut the costs of running the BBC, but in times of very tough choices we need to focus on what really matters - delivering outstanding programmes and content for all our audiences."

The BBC said that the percentage of households owning televisions is falling "faster than predicted".

Bectu said that the "loophole" which allows access to BBC iPlayer without payment of the licence fee is expected to be closed with the next charter renewal in 2017.

A BBC statement said: "It provides further evidence of the need for the licence fee to be modernised to cover digital services."

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: "We have been pressing for a restructuring of the BBC that prioritises journalism and programming for some time, one that tackles the fleshy layers of management that have been preserved in the face of waves of cuts that have badly hit grassroots content.

"So a hard look at how to best deploy resources on the services that really matter and make sure the BBC's structures are efficient and fit for purpose is overdue.

"To date, Delivering Quality First, the cost cutting programme which has reduced the news budget by a quarter, has hit journalist jobs and programming."

She added: " It's taken this deficit for the BBC to move to tackling the management layers that have made many staff feel like it's one BBC for them, and a very different BBC for those running the corporation.

"The NUJ will ensure in the forthcoming consultation process that already over-stretched editorial areas are not further compromised in the reviews and further cuts to come."