Turner Broadcasting’s job reductions could grow to as many 1,500 workers, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said.

Word of broader job cuts comes as Turner executives confirmed plans this week to offer buyouts to 600 older workers as part of a restructuring.

Turner has acknowledged cuts will go beyond the buyouts but has not given a total target.

The company says TV industry changes are largely driving the cuts. But some analysts say parent Time Warner is under pressure to boost its financial performance after rejecting a buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox. It’s unclear whether the 1,500 potential cuts are in addition to the buyout offers, or how many would be among Atlanta workers. That number amounts to more than 10 percent of Turner’s global work force.

Asked about the figure, Turner spokesman Jeff Matteson said the company “does not comment on rumors.” Two executives told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Turner has not set an overall number.

Turner, which includes CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, truTV, HLN and other networks and online sites, has about 13,000 full-time employees worldwide, about 6,500 of them in metro Atlanta. CNN accounts for about 3,500 full-time employees worldwide, with a large chunk of them in downtown Atlanta.

The potential scale of the cutbacks worries city and business leaders. Speaking to a business group Tuesday, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed cited CNN as an iconic part of the city’s business community and voiced his concerns.

“CNN is a brand that has been inextricably linked to the city of Atlanta because of Ted Turner,” Reed said.

On Tuesday, Turner notified nearly 600 of its 9,000 U.S. employees that they qualify for a voluntary buyout. Workers 55 or older with at least 10 years of Turner employment qualify for nine weeks of pay plus four more weeks of pay for every year of service. The payout is capped at 104 weeks of pay.