Nine has advised its staff that up to 200 jobs are being made redundant.
The first round to of cuts will impact Nine’s publishing arm, and will be announced as early as today.
CEO Mike Sneesby issued an all-staff notice, putting the cuts down to ‘economic headwinds.’
Sneesby said in an email to staff:
“It is not something we want to do but it is something we need to do to continue to build on a successful platform of high-quality journalism and digital subscription growth.”
The company is in the process of identifying further savings in its Digital and Broadcast businesses.
An operational review of these businesses is now underway.
It appears that all FTA networks have been reducing staff or will be reducing staff.
Seven have recently announced a reduction of 150 staff including three senior managers. Today's news is Nine cutting 200 staff.
Then Paramount, the parent company of Network 10 may be divesting its assets including Network 10.
It is inevitable that there may be staff cuts at 10.
At worst Network 10, may not be on air at all:
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/network-10-is-in-total-turmoil-and-may-not-survive-as-australias-third-commercial-broadcaster/news-story/8834f836947d5f4ca478c9b88db9e47f
If Network 10 remains with Seven and Nine, the test is whether there will be a perceptible change in program quality and quantity.
If there is no perceptible change in quality and quantity of programming, then one has to ask why those staff were necessary in the first place.
A corollary is a reduction in Twitter's, now X's staff from 7500 to 1800:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/technology/twitter-layoffs.html (7500 to 2000)
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-laying-off-twitter-was-painful-bbc-spaces-interview-2023-4 (7500 to 1800)
There may be mixed results from remaining staff taking an extra load or staff looking for greener pastures.
Nevertheless, has the user experience of X been affected?
Then it is just as valid to ask the questions of the FTA networks' quality and quantity of programs if there is a reduction of staff?
FTA networks are not the dominant players in media.
Today the consumer has choices of paid and unpaid media whether the production values are excellent or poor. That includes the cat videos on youtube.
As a result the FTA networks' revenues have declined and advertisers are placing their ads elsewhere.
Over 30 years there have been staff cuts across the FTA networks.
It has resulted in reductions in staff in newsrooms. For example in 2012 Network 10 cut its staff.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/pm/100-news-jobs-go-as-network-ten-cuts-costs/4321500
To answer the question of whether a reduction in staff affects program quantity and quantity, it may well affect news to the extent that at one time 10's Perth news bulletins came from Sydney.
https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2023/12/12/confirmed-network-10-to-stay-with-locally-presented-news-for-perth-viewers/
As to other programs, drama has made way for reality type programs.
I leave it up to the reader to decide whether that change in program type is a change in quality
Thanks
Anthony, Strathfield South, in the land of the Wangal and Darug People's of the Eora Nation