Economy marches on..NBC to cut 700 jobs

[SoCalDem]

700 jobs to be cut by NBC Universal
Bloomberg News, The Associated Press
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/19/business/nbc.php
Published: October 19, 2006

NEW YORK NBC Universal said Thursday that it would cut 700 jobs and streamline its news operations as part of an overhaul aimed at exploiting new forms of electronic distribution. NBC said it expected the restructuring to save $750 million in operating expenses by 2008. The job cuts would represent about 5 percent of its work force.
NBC Universal is 80 percent owned by General Electric. Vivendi of France owns the rest.

As part of the changes, NBC's long- struggling 24-hour cable news channel, MSNBC, will move its operations to NBC's headquarters in Rockefeller Center in New York City and also to another NBC facility in New Jersey. The changes do not represent a diminishing commitment to news, but reflect how the industry is changing, said Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal's television group. "The growth in news is in different places - it's online, it's on wireless," he said.

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It has been aggressive in creating broadband-only channels, for example, and has partnered with Yahoo through Telemundo to establish one of the most popular Internet destination for Hispanics. NBC also signed deals with the video-clip Web site YouTube to show its programming and started an online market for videos with partners including Access Hollywood and Forbes.com.

The changes will be noticeable on television, where NBC will stop scheduling high-priced dramas and comedies during the first hour of prime time at 8 p.m. Instead, cheaper-to-produce programming like "Deal or No Deal" or "The Biggest Loser" will fill that hour.

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"We want to be sure that we continue to provide the best programming possible," Zucker said. "We just want to put the programming where we get the highest rate of return."


NBC's cost-saving plan involves laying off people from the company's 11 news divisions, including on-air talent.

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[whistle]

1. As Henry Kissinger might say, "It isn't that we have too few jobs...

...in the economy, it's that we have too many people who want work."