Carlton Interactive, the new media arm of Carlton Communications, has slashed more than half its staff in an attempt to tighten up its operation before being incorporated into ITV Interactive.
Paul Greensmith, the chief operating officer at Carlton Interactive, has taken on the wider role of ITV director of interactivity, a job that involves taking responsibility for the planned entertainment website ITV.com set to launch in the autumn.
Staff have also been told that Carlton's flagship websites, Jamba and Popcorn, are up for the chop unless a partner can be found to salvage them.
The news coincides with the setting up of ITV Interactive, a new division that ITV is calling "the unified home for all online and interactive activities".
While the cull is believed to have affected 40 of the 77 staff at Carlton Interactive, a spokeswoman for Granada insisted there were no actual job losses at Granada Broadband, Granada's equivalent digital arm.
Plans for ITV.com, which will feature a mix of programme-related sites, information and games, are now underway.
Stuart Prebble, the chief executive of ITV, said it was an important step for ITV to extend its brands across all platforms.
"The ability to unlock the full potential of content across all digital media is key to the future of commercial broadcasting and this development will fuel ITV's continued evolution as a market-leading entertainment brand," he said.
A spokeswoman for ITV added that more details of ITV Interactive will be announced in the coming months, particularly in relation to staff and how it will be structured between Granada and Carlton's separate new media operations.