Canada’s Rogers Media plans to cut a total of 200 jobs across their radio, television and publishing divisions next week.
The cuts represent about 4% of its workforce.
“We have identified cost efficiencies in production, operations and procurement, and have made the difficult decision to reduce head count, primarily affecting conventional TV, radio, publishing and back-office positions,” the company said in a statement, citing “softening advertising market, fierce competition from global players and shifting audience consumption habits” for the decision.
Rogers Media operates 24 TV stations, 52 radio stations, 57 publications and 93 websites in Canada. The company also owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and has a 37.5-per-cent interest in sports Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
The division’s owner Rogers Communications Inc., which earns most of its revenues from its communications business, including cable television and Internet and wireless services, is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
In the third quarter of 2015, the Rogers Media division posted an 8-per-cent increase in sales to $473-million. However, it attributed that to the playoff success of the Blue Jays , which led to higher advertising and revenue growth at Sportsnet, Rogers’ specialty sports station.
The cuts come as the company is set to unbundle its cable offerings after the country’s broadcast regulator ordered cable TV providers to let their customers pick and pay for cable and satellite TV channels after purchasing a basic package capped at $25 a month.
RBR+TVBR observation: The cuts also come amid similar cuts from rivals Bell Media and Shaw Media and show the broadcast sector’s being affected by dropping ad revenues and audiences increasingly going online to watch television shows. That’s why Rogers Media parent Rogers Communications and Vice Media plan to launch a youth-targeted Canadian cable TV channel called Viceland in late February. They’ve also opened a $100M production studio in Toronto to make mobile, Web and TV content.
News of the job cuts at Rogers Media also came on the same day the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications began an eight-day hearing on the future of local television news programming. Among other things, the commission is considering whether a new funding mechanism should be established to help support local news.
