LEIGH Sales will vanish from prime time in an ABC TV shake-up that will see 7.30 shift to 9.30pm and Lateline axed.

The much-loved anchor of the ABC’s flagship program would be shifted back into the twilight timeslot of 9.30pm currently occupied by Lateline to save money, Fairfax News reports.

Lateline, currently hosted by former European correspondent Emma Alberici who took over from veteran Tony Jones last year, would disappear altogether.

An ABC staffer told Fairfax that Lateline was already “in its death throes” due to budget cuts.

The rumoured moves come after a $250m ABC budget cut three years ago, which saw the national broadcaster axe its local Friday night versions of the former 7.30 Report known as Stateline.

NSW Stateline host and multiple award-winning journalist Quentin Dempster then described the ABC job cuts as “industrial executions”.

Lateline’s rumoured demise would be “through no fault of the staff or its own”, the ABC employee said.

“It’s had its budget chipped away at for years, so it won’t come as a surprise when it’s axed.”

The show’s ratings are between 25 to 30 per cent of those 7.30 attracts.

But it is predicted moving 7.30 to a later timeslot — and an inevitable name change — will see it, too, decline in ratings.

One possibility is moving 7.30 to ABC24, the broadcaster’s 24-hour news channel, and then replaying it at 9.30pm on the main channel.

Leigh Sales, who was appointed to host 7.30 in 2011 when it replaced the old 7.30 Report, has received acclaim for her tough but fair interviews of Australian politicians.

The Lateline program premiered in 1990 and developed a reputation for its coverage of Australian current affairs and analysis of international news

ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie warned in March this year that ABC staff and viewers should expect more changes.

Announcing 200 job cuts in management, content roles and support services, Ms Guthrie said all formats and programs were up for review.

“I think we should be looking at all our programs and looking at the impact they’re having on audiences, and looking at new ways of telling those stories,” she said.

“I do feel that people are not turning to the 7pm news to find out what happens that day, so what does that mean?”

Ms Guthrie has overseen sweeping changes at the ABC, including the shrinkage of Radio National after she told staff they would be held “accountable for their successes and failures”.

The ABC boss said a further breakdown of competing silos and tough choices “within a fixed funding envelope” would ensue but that the ABC “isn’t alone ... in having to make painful decisions”.