Portland TV station WCSH (Channel 6) will eliminate six and one-half positions between the end of this year and the spring of 2009.

Steve Thaxton, the station’s president, said the elimination of positions is part of a consolidating of functions within WCSH’s parent company, Virginia-based Gannett Co., which owns 23 television stations.

Two of the positions are currently open, Thaxton said, so the move will result in the layoffs of people in four and one-half positions.

Five of the positions being eliminated are in the master control area, where at least one person is assigned to watch WCSH’s broadcast at all times in case of problems. That function will be done in Jacksonville, Fla. WCSH will still have three people in master control to fix any problems with the broadcast, Thaxton said.

The other position and one-half being eliminated is in the area of graphic design for broadcast and for the station’s Web site. All of that work for Gannett’s TV stations will be done in Denver, Col., Thaxton said.