Submitted by: Taz from DC (SoSF Fan)
NBC Universal said today it will slash 700 jobs and streamline its entire news division as part an overhaul aimed at exploiting new forms of electronic distribution.
NBC, a General Electric Co., said it expects the revamp to save $750 million in operating expenses by 2008. The job cuts will represent about 5 percent of its current employee levels.
The biggest part of this news will be the shake-up of its long-time fledgling 24-hour cable news channel MSNBC, which has limped in third place behind FOX News and CNN since its inception. The cable news network will move its operations to NBC’s headquarters in Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center and also to another NBC facility in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The TV station group will create a consolidated news facility in Burbank, Calif. that will support NBC as well as its Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo.
The $750 million will be re-invested in newer forms of entertainment such as dedicated broadband channels. “The growth in news is in different places — it’s online, it’s on wireless,” Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal’s TV group said.
This move follows three lackluster years at NBC Universal, where operating profit fell 10 percent in each of the past three quarters. The slumping results have cut significantly into GE earnings.
The change also effects the non-news sector of NBC Universal. The company has said it will stop scheduling high-priced dramas and comedies during the first hour of prime-time at 8PM for cheaper-to-produce hour long programming like “Deal or No Deal” or “The Biggest Loser.”
Great! Just what the airways need – more trailer-trash television.
In the news division, the people factor will include the laying off of some familiar on-air faces as well, although NBC did not mention any names in the press release.
One SF program currently done on NBC is the highly successful and critically acclaimed drama “Heroes.” Because of its viewing numbers, it currently is in no danger of feeling this hit, having already been picked up for an entire season of episodes. There was no word yet if programming at NBC’s daughter networks such as the SCI FI Channel or Bravo would share in the cuts brought about by this decision.
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