LONDON (AP) — ITV PLC, Britain's biggest commercial broadcaster, reported a full-year loss of £2.56 billion ($3.6 billion) yesterday and said it wants to cut 600 jobs and sell its Friends Reunited social networking website.

The heavy loss compared to a profit of £137 million in 2007. ITV booked impairment charges of £2.7 billion pounds for the year, reflecting a drop in advertising revenue and the uncertain outlook for 2009.

Revenue was down 2.5 percent to £2.03 billion, and the company suspended its final dividend.

The company said it plans to cut 600 positions, or 11.5 percent of its staff of 5,232 at year's end, to help meet a target of £50 million in cost savings.

ITV shares were up one percent at 24 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.

ITV bought Friends Reunited in 2005 in a cash and shares deal worth up to £175 million.

"Friends Reunited remains a highly profitable and successful online business, but our new strategic focus on streamed video does not play to its strengths and we will look to dispose of the business when the time and the price are right," the company said.

Despite a drop of £4 million in subscription revenue compared to 2007, Friends Reunited accounted for about half of ITV's online revenue of £36 million in 2008.

ITV also plans to close its ITV Local broadband operation, which provides local news, and intends to dispose of Scoot, its online business directory.

ITV estimated that net advertising revenue in the first quarter of this year would be down 17 percent compared to a year earlier.

Sam Hart, analyst at Charles Stanley & Co., recommended that investors reduce their stakes in ITV despite its ability to deliver big audiences, its programme archive and its admired production business.

"Whilst advertising market conditions continue to deteriorate, forecast risk remains on the downside and investors are likely to continue to question the sustainability of the balance sheet," Hart said. "We see few reasons to continue holding the shares at current levels."

Martin McNulty of Trafficbroker, an online marketing agency, said the drop in ITV revenue wasn't all because of hard times but also to a fundamental change in the market.

"ITV's biggest competitor these days is Google and that's a major cause for concern. Increasingly, companies are switching to performance-based advertising models that remove risk entirely," McNulty said.