CBS Corp. axes staffers across U.S.
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CBS Corp. is doing some belt-tightening at its TV stations and news division, amid a tough media environment and declines in television and print news outlets.
At the network level, CBS is cutting about 1 percent of its 1,200-employee work force, the broadcaster said on Tuesday. Local news operations also began laying off employees, but a CBS spokesman said the actions at the network and the local news operations were unrelated.
Anchors and reporters are among the employees who have been laid off at such CBS stations as WCBS New York, KCBS Los Angeles, WBZ Boston, KYW Philadelphia, KPIX San Francisco, WBBM Chicago and KVOR Sacramento.
Among the dozen or so let go at KCBS and its L.A. sister station KCAL were veteran anchors Harold Greene and Ann Martin, whose salaries are said to be in the millions of dollars. A station group spokesperson confirmed that the duo would be announcing their "retirement" as of June 1.
In April, KCBS/KCAL moved into a state-of-the-art building on the CBS Radford lot in Studio City, where the top floor has been undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation to house West Coast offices for CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves and top executives.
In New York, WCBS also lost about a dozen positions. WBBM's lead female anchor, Diane Burns, also is out after the Chicago station declined to renew her contract, which reportedly paid her $2 million annually. WBZ Boston lost about 20 jobs.
In San Francisco, 14 KPIX newsroom folks were laid off. Among the nine staffers cut in Denver were Shawn Montano, who was recently named the National Press Photographers Assn.'s photojournalism video editor of the year.
CBS owns 29 TV stations, including 16 CBS and nine CW affiliates, most of them in bigger markets.
Wall Street observers cited a sluggish economy and market as likely driving factors behind the CBS job reductions. They also mentioned the continued digital evolution of the media business and the recent Hollywood writers strike as key reasons for TV executives to rethink established models.
"I can only imagine that they are trying to salvage operating income before depreciation and amortization while revenue remains challenged in this recession," Miller Tabak + Co. analyst David Joyce said about CBS Corp., echoing peers who have argued that the company will need to cut costs to help it hit key earnings targets.
Added Barrington Research analyst James Goss: "My sense is that the layoffs extended to some high-priced and highly visible local talent with an eye toward applying some of the same return on investment-focused expense disciplines that started at the network level."
Asked about the often-mentioned political advertising upside that experts have been predicting for TV groups this year, Joyce said: "Generally this year, political upside is being matched by recession downside, mostly at the local level."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
