Hong Kong - More than 200 employees at Hong Kong TV station Asia Television (ATV) were sacked Thursday in a move to ease the company's worsening financial situation.

Sackings include members of the TV station's news department and account for about 20 per cent of its overall workforce.

In an announcement sent out to employees, ATV executive chairman Linus Cheung said the redundancies came after a review of the station's corporate structure.

Cheung said the decision had been difficult but the broadcaster had lost billions of Hong Kong dollars in recent years. The sackings follow the firing of 63 other employees three months ago.

ATV is one of two free-to-air stations in Hong Kong. It operates eight channels including an English language news channel but viewing numbers have slumped in recent years.

Hong Kong has been hit hard by the global economic slump, with share prices falling by 50 per cent since the beginning of 2008 and the city's jobless rate rising above 4 per cent. (dpa)