Yesterday it was reported that Paramount would be laying off 25% of its staff across the board at its cable TV networks. This includes staff at Nick, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, CMT, Smithsonian, TV Land, Logo and Pop TV. Paramount also announced that MTV News would be shutting down as well.
In a memo to staff Paramount Media Networks, President Chris McCarthy said: “However, despite this success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers. To address this, our senior leaders in coordination with HR have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business.”
“As a result, we have made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%,” McCarthy said. “This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group. Through the elimination of some units and by streamlining others, we will be able to reduce costs and create a more effective approach to our business as we move forward. Today we will notify employees whose positions are being impacted with leaders communicating the news directly to those teams/or individuals. These meetings will be followed by individual 1:1s with our HR partners.”
Paramount will also be compressing its TV networks into one team. Now Nick, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, CMT, Smithsonian, TV Land, Logo, and Pop TV will all operate as a single unit. Most of these cuts will come from the consolidation of all these networks into a single team reducing staffing needs, according to Variety.
“I realize these decisions will be very hard for everyone, most of all, those who will be leaving. It’s not something we take lightly. We have some of the most passionate and dedicated team members, who bring their full selves to drive our brands and business forward. This is why it’s so difficult to say goodbye to our friends and colleagues. To those impacted, we deeply appreciate the passion and creativity you have brought every day. I want to thank you for your many contributions.” McCarthy said in his memo.
This all comes as we have seen record growth of cord cutting and a declining ad market affecting cable networks and streaming services alike. Recently Lionsgate laid off 3% of its staff, Roku laid off 200 employees, and Disney is cutting 7,000 jobs across all areas of its company. These are just a few of the cuts happening right now in entertainment.
This news also comes as increasingly cord cutters are picking on-demand-only services and skipping live TV service.