A mid-year appraisal of TV industry layoffs

In the last year, the streaming world has been in a pickle.

Juggernaut TV media companies are struggling with their declining cable businesses, and some are trying to stem the damage by separating more profitable studio and streaming businesses from their cable properties.

As the disruption and restructures remake the companies from the inside out, it also means many of these companies are shedding employees. We took a look at which companies have made the most dramatic changes over the past 12 months.

Ruffled feathers: Peacock’s parent company revealed a plan late last year to move its cable networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, to a spin-off company that’s been named Versant, and since that announcement, has gone through a few rounds of layoffs and restructures.

In January, Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal underwent a restructure, during which unscripted head Corie Henson and Peacock’s president, Kelly Campell, departed the company. NBCU initiated another round of layoffs in April, cutting dozens of jobs in divisions including streaming and TV.

In February, MSNBC fired host Joy Reid and cancelled several other of its news programs.

Calling it splits: When it comes to the cable business, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) also knows a thing or two. The company executed a $9+ billion writedown in August after continuously hemorrhaging cable TV subscribers.

More recently, WBD followed Comcast’s lead and announced that it will split its cable business from its studio and streaming units into a new company that will be headed by WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. (There’s been some speculation that WBD may be looking to sell off its cable business entirely.)

After laying off nearly 1,000 employees last summer, CNN laid off another 200 people in January as part of a restructuring aimed at bolstering the digital side of its business, and WBD parted ways with “under 100” employees on the cable side in June, per Deadline.

Down the mountain: Last August, Paramount wrote down the value of its cable business by almost $6 billion, and its workforce has been slashed in the wake. In September, more than 300 employees were laid off as part of Paramount’s goal to trim 15% of its US-based workforce. In December, the company consolidated its TV and streaming distribution teams, cutting more roles in the process. And in June, it cut an additional 3.5% of its domestic workforce.

That may not be the end of it: The most recent round of layoffs “may also result in some impacts to our workforce outside the US over time,” according to an internal memo announcing the cuts.

A number of senior execs have also departed over the last several months, including Sabrina Caluori, EVP, kids and family marketing for Nickelodeon and Paramount+, and Lauren Ruggiero, MTV Entertainment Studios’s SVP of scripted series, according to Deadline.

CBS News has also seen some controversial departures: In February 2024, about 20 staffers were cut, and in April, veteran executive producer Bill Owens resigned from 60 Minutes, citing a lack of journalistic independence. CBS News exec Wendy McMahon also departed in May. (This month, Paramount agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit regarding its coverage.)

Mouse trap: The Mouse House has its own predicaments. Amid the continued consumer preference for streaming, Disney CEO Bob Iger has been restructuring the company to focus on its streaming business and cut costs—which meant that, and yes, layoffs were in order.

Last month, it laid off several hundred employees globally, mostly across Disney Entertainment, including those in film and TV marketing roles. The layoffs followed an earlier round that happened in March, where roughly 200 Disney employees lost their jobs across ABC News, Freeform, and FX. Last October, a restructure at Disney Entertainment Television saw the closure of TV studio ABC Signature and resulted in 30 layoffs in the division.