ESPN expected to layoff on-screen talent

Sports media giant ESPN will again go through a round of layoffs, this time cutting on-screen talent.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reported Sunday that ESPN will have “significant cost-cutting” for the next four months, including on-air personalities that many viewers will recognize. Those with contracts coming to an end would be particularly vulnerable, although Deitsch mentions ESPN will also buyout certain contracts.

This comes after the company laid off approximately 300 behind-the-scenes employees in 2015. Despite not having much competition, “The Worldwide Leader in Sports” has been losing subscribers and revenue for a while now. Only 88.4 million households were subscribed in 2016, after ESPN had 100.002 million in early 2011.

It appears these expected cuts are more about reshaping ESPN for the digital age than anything else. The loss of 12 million subscribers over the last five years is mostly due to cord-cutting as opposed to subscribers deciding to drop the network. Therefore, in order to minimize the financial damage, ESPN has no choice but to figure out what on-air talent to utilize to generate content for new products and platforms.

“We have long been about serving fans and innovating to create the best content for them,” ESPN said in a statement. “Today’s fans consume content in many different ways and we are in a continuous process of adapting to change and improving what we do. Inevitably that has consequences for how we utilize our talent. We are confident that ESPN will continue to have a roster of talent that is unequaled in sports.”

Surely, ESPN will continue to be a top destination for aspiring sports journalists. Yet with another wave of layoffs on the horizon, there’s no doubting that the company is inching closer to the middle of the pack.

About author

Nick Frazier
Nick Frazier 17 posts

Nick is an intern for Snack Media and a contributor to Digital Sport. You can follow him on Twitter @nikfraz14.

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