WEST CHESTER — QVC is laying off hundreds of employees.

The television shopping company based in the Philadelphia suburb of West Chester says that it laid off 160 workers on Wednesday as the beginning of the plan.

Ultimately, QVC says about 900 jobs will be eliminated over the next 14 months. About 200 new jobs are to be added.

The net reduction of about 700 jobs is 5.8 percent of QVC's U.S. work force.

QVC says its cost-cutting measures will result in a cut in 2009 forecasted operating costs of $30 million to $40 million.

HARRISBURG — The number of Pennsylvania homeowners falling behind on mortgage payments fell for a second straight month in October, according to new figures released Thursday.However, the figures from RealtyTrac Inc. show that foreclosure filings in Pennsylvania last month were about 26 percent above the number of filings recorded in October 2007, a little higher than the national increase over the same period.The foreclosure rate in Pennsylvania remains about one-third the national rate, with about one in every 1,360 households receiving a foreclosure filing in October, RealtyTrac said.Last month, 4,005 properties received a foreclosure filing, compared to 4,189 in September and 3,170 in October 2007, according to RealtyTrac's figures.October was the fifth straight month where Pennsylvania saw more than 4,000 foreclosure filings, the longest such stretch since at least 2005, when RealtyTrac began compiling the figures.Nearly 1,000 properties were seized in October, compared to about 1,350 in September and 950 in October 2007.