Thousands of BBC journalists took part in a 48-hours strike over plans to cut their pension benefits, British media said.
Some of the major tv- and radio programs were disrupted due to the strike and replaced with pre-recorded material.
The move follows BBC management's plans to reduce a pensions deficit of 1.5 billion British pounds ($2.4 billion), although it has not been accurately measured yet.
The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, appealed to staff 11 hours before the strike, which he said would mean "significant loss of earnings" for the National Union of Journalists' members "without any advantage or benefit in return," the Guardian newspaper said on Thursday.
"The public - many of whom are facing difficult employment and economic pressures - will find it very hard to understand why the BBC's service to them should be impaired in this way," Thompson's email to BBC staff was cited in the Guardian.
Media said that BBC pensions were considered "relatively generous," while staff claims that their salaries are low, excluding BBC senior managers.
MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti)
