ESPN announced today that it is laying off about 150 behind-the-scenes employees. On-air talent was originally expected to be included as well, but apparently, the sports network will instead let the contracts of high-profile personalities expire as they hit their end date through the next year.
This is the second time in 2017 that the Bristol, Connecticut-based sports channel issued pink slips. In April, ESPN, which is still drowning in red ink and dragging down parent company Disney, released about 100 employees , many of whom were familiar public-facing names, including on-air anchors, commentators, and website writers. ESPN is still cutting severance checks to many of them on multi-year deals with contracts that haven’t officially expired. In the summer of 2013, ESPN jettisoned hundreds of production support staff , as it did again in October 2015.
ESPN President John Skipper issued a statement this morning about the layoffs.
“Today we are informing approximately 150 people at ESPN that their jobs are being eliminated. We appreciate their contributions, and will assist them as much as possible in this difficult moment with severance, a 2017 bonus, the continuation of health benefits and outplacement services. They will also appreciate your support. The majority of the jobs eliminated are in studio production, digital content, and technology and they generally reflect decisions to do less in certain instances and re-direct resources…”
According to Sports Illustrated, ESPN scheduled the layoffs for the post-Thanksgiving period to allow employees to qualify for an additional year of stock vesting under its established benefits program. “The timing will not do ESPN any favors publicly with Christmas coming in less than a month,” SI added, however.
ESPN president John Skipper announced that the company is laying off approximately 150 employees. https://t.co/zGpNkPdrfV
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) November 29, 2017
ESPN has lost about 14 million subscribers (and thus, an enormous amount of revenue from cable and satellite providers at $7 per household) through cord-cutting and other reasons since 2011, and overall viewership is also down significantly. The sports network also overpaid for telecast rights fees to pro and college leagues, which is crushing the bottom line.
As the Inquisitr has detailed, ESPN has also alienated many politically conservative viewers (or former viewers) through its emphasis on social justice issues, rather than just delivering games and game highlights.
Moving forward, the flagship SportsCenter broadcast will reportedly experience downsizing through attrition, SI added.
“Earlier in the month sources within ESPN said they expected some front-facing television talent to be part of this round of layoffs—including on the SportsCenter side. But ESPN management is now likely not to re-sign anchors with contracts coming up in the next 12 months as part of cost savings. What is likely to happen is some SportsCenter shows will be cut from airing on ESPNews, according to multiple ESPN staffers.”
ESPN is nonetheless continuing its plan to launch a streaming service and has also recently inked some new personalities. The self-named Worldwide Leader in Sports has also scheduled a mandatory staff meeting for December 13 to review its social media policies “along with guidelines of how staffers should handle political and social issues,” the New York Daily News noted. Recall that ESPN suspended the SportsCenter anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks with pay for calling for a boycott of NFL advertisers in violation of the company’s social media guidelines, but they did not suspend her after accusing President Trump of white supremacy.
As this is a developing story, be sure to check back for updates on the ESPN layoffs.
