Approximately 75 employees at ABC News and local-station operations will be laid off as further cost-cutting is taking place at Disney, according to Variety.
What’s Happening:
- As cost-cutting continues at Disney while they maneuver in an increasingly difficult media environment, about 75 employees at ABC News and local stations are set to be laid off.
- Employees were reportedly notified today (Wednesday, October 2nd), with the cut jobs split evenly between ABC News, and the local stations.
- Disney and ABC owns eight local ABC stations – in Fresno, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Raleigh/Durham, Philadelphia, and Houston.
- ABC News is the arm of the company that is responsible for some of the flagship programming of the network, including shows like World News Tonight and Good Morning America.
- Reportedly, anchors assigned to ABC News’ most popular shows are not expected to be affected at this time, and the layoffs will not affect any national or local programming.
- Unlike other layoffs in recent memory at the Walt Disney Company, no specific groups or teams are being eliminated as part of this move.
- This is only the latest in series of cuts at the company that are resulting in job loss. Earlier this week, ABC Signature was folded into 20th Television (which also included an executive restructuring) that also led to a number of layoffs across those divisions.
What They’re Saying:
- Almin Karamehmedovic, President of ABC News (in a note to staff): “Across the various ranks of ABC News, a limited number of our colleagues are being impacted by staff reductions. As you know, this has been happening across the broader company and the industry at large in recent weeks and months. For us, it means shaping a team that embraces the new media landscape and evolves along with it, which we must do to continue serving our viewers.”
- Chad Matthews, President of ABC-Owned TV Stations (in a memo to staff): “It’s no secret that our industry is undergoing a transformation unlike any other, and we’re seeing headlines every day about streamlining across every major media company. While we’re not immune to the pressures facing this business today, we have been – and will continue to be – strategic with decisions about our organization’s future.