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May 26, 2012

NBC Universal to slash jobs, reorganize news division

by Richard Keller, posted Oct 19th 2006 1:22PM

NBC UniversalThings are not going well for NBC Universal these days. Studio 60 and Friday Night Lights are doing poorly in the ratings, the highly touted Kidnapped was canceled and pushed out to the dead zone known as Saturday nights, and even some of their established shows, like Law & Order, are slipping a bit. Now, it looks like the news division is about to take a direct hit as well.

According to TV Week, NBCU plans to eliminate 700 jobs, about 5 percent of their workforce, in order to slash $750 million off of their administrative and operating costs. The reductions will comprise of buyouts, offers of early retirement and attrition. The biggest department to be affected will be the NBC News, which will go through an extensive streamlining process in order to prepare themselves for the oncoming digital revolution (which is already in full swing, but why quibble.). According to News President Steve Capus, the changes being announced will allow the network to re-invest in new growth areas.

In addition to the job cuts, NBC News operations will be reorganized. The biggest part of this reorg will be moving MSNBC from its New Jersey home to 30 Rock. There is also talk of combining all of the News offices, which are currently spread out on 10 floors of 30 Rock, into a two floor hub. Finally, the news division will work more closely with a number of operations that don't report directly to them. This includes business-news cable channel CNBC, Spanish cable channel Telemundo and the news operations of NBC-owned TV stations.

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Jeff

I hope they plan to make an exception to the no scripted shows at 8 policy for Earl and The Office. Those are sleeper hits right now, but they can't survive the onslaught of Grey's and CSI.

October 19 2006 at 4:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Suzie

If there's a choice to be made between the two shows, then it probably comes down to which one is cheaper to produce . . . and I think we which one that is. I'm not a Studio 60 fan and I love FNL, so I hope it's the one that survives, but I truly hate the idea of NBC doing things on the cheap.

Besides, if Studio 60 doesn't get its full run, we'll never get to have the Birth of Jordan's Baby episode. Could we also have a wedding episode, too? Or maybe they could all go on a trip to Hawaii.

October 19 2006 at 3:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Venscoso

700 jobs = $750 MM? That's a pretty well-paying company!

October 19 2006 at 3:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
carole

Amazing that Studio 60 isn't doing well. The dialog on that show was so good in the pilot I was actually shocked to find it on TV! You know it used to also be amazing to me that 24 wasn't doing well either so possibly those shows should be kept going until they catch on?

The bottom line is when things appear to be down that is when you should try to do BETTER shows, not cheaper shows, I mean wasn't cable built on simply having better shows??? Watch out NBC, not a good plan. Think of how many businesses would go under if they were not doing well and decided to offer less quality??? That does't make ANY sense to the average HS grad!!! PS If you cancel Studio 60 I refuse to watch anymore of your programming!!!!

October 19 2006 at 2:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
const

Two big $ contracts that should save some money if axed:
Olberman & Mathews

:p

October 19 2006 at 2:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Daniel

So this story is, um, *more* reliable than when you guys told readers last night that Kevin Reilly was about to be fired?

October 19 2006 at 2:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
amazo

i'm not sure they are doing THAT bad. Heroes is doing better than anyone could have thought, deal or no deal is doing well, as well as The Office, and My Name is Earl. They also have Sunday night football and other shows. Studio 60 and Friday Night Lights are good shows in bad timeslots. I dont think they ever expected Studio 60 to be a ratings juggernaut, since Sorkin doesn't really make ratings juggernaut types of shows, just the Emmy kind. They also have The Apprentice and Scrubs coming back mid season. I think this layoff (which sucks to their workers getting laid off) is beneficial to them in the long run. NBC kinda went on the downslide at the end of Friends, but i think they are surging back up.

October 19 2006 at 2:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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