Hey MTV employees....how's that HUSSEIN presidency workin' for ya?!
Posted on 06/25/2009 10:51:47 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
MTV Networks is axing around 75 staff Tuesday, executives at the company confirmed. The cuts mainly affect mid-level executives in the program development department, digital division and scheduling at the company's music and logo group which houses channels including MTV, VH1 and Logo.
A spokeswoman confirmed the news saying the cuts were a result of the recession. "We have been taking a look at our business and how to position ourselves for future growth. It's pretty much the economy," she said, adding that the cuts accounted for less than 1% of MTV Networks' workforce. The executive couldnt discuss how many people the company employs or confirm how many people are exiting or which channels they work for.
A separate executive put the number at around 75 positions. While one executive outside the company said MTV bore the brunt of cuts. Ten positions were said to be eliminated at Logo, the channel geared at the gay community. The lay-offs come just days after the departure of MTV Networks veteran programming czar Brian Graden who said last week he would be leaving at the end of the year. Brian Graden is currently president of MTV Networks Music Group and is also president of Logo . He oversees programming for MTV, VH1, CMT and Logo and has been a force at the company for the past ten years.
MTV Networks which houses successful cable channel brands such as Comedy Central has had difficulty in recent years with MTV. The channel, while still a big player in the teen market, has seen a 20% decline in ratings in April and May among the young adults that once came for music videos and now stop by for reality shows such as The City. The change over from program ratings to C3 ratings had also initially hurt MTV along with other fast-paced entertainment oriented channels, given the nature of the programming which tends not to be taped.
According to Credit Suisse, the channel has showed ratings declines for the past two years with the exception of the fourth quarter of 2007. Credit Suisse estimates that Viacoms ad-supported channels will see a 7% decline in ad revenue for 2009.
No further cuts are expected and the downsizing does not affect MTV Networks entertainment group or the company's kids and family group.
Most FABULOUS layoff ever.
MTV needs a show like “Jon minus Kate does Spring Break” to boost the ratings.
In a bit of followup news, DEA has seen a huge drop in drug demand.
now our culture will devolve into degeneracy just a tad more slowly
It’s hard to feel sorry for my fellow Americans who voted for Change-O and now suddenly, they’re out of work.
Obummer!
Yep, I’d love to see VH1 and MTV producers out on the street.
Maybe they should, I don’t know, do something radical.
Like show music videos.
You can tell that worse times are ahead for them:
“We have been taking a look at our business and how to position ourselves for future growth.”
Growth happens when times are good. But your business will suffer if during the bad times it still tries to focus on growth. The majority of the business failures so far are companies that were so focused on growth they depended on it.
Right now, the smart money are those betting on severe retrenchment at all levels. The US government cut in size by 50%, the end of entitlement programs, default on the national debt, and the end of most credit.
Only when the markets collapse will it finally dawn on the US government that it has overextended itself terribly since the 1960s.
Back until signals went digital, you could get a la carte and get some really cool stuff with the big dishes, even recently.
But, not normal satellite services with the small dishes.
Regardless, now that’s all gone.
MTV was offered the shot at buying Myspace before Newscorp got it.
They couldn’t figure out how to make money with it. I don’t know if it is a profitable corporation yet but would’ve kept MTV “relevant” and may them more RESPONSIVE to music trends rather than them continuing to try to PRESENT the “new cool” to audiences.
The best was picking off the satellite feeds where you could catch celebrities in some very candid moments, before they went on live.
They don’t want to have to pay the labels to air the video “promo” clips. When they create original programming, they can syndicate it later in reruns on Paramount and other channels.
Any TV show (cable/satellite or regular) with primary content rap (I won't call it music) will never be viewed in my home. That includes "awards: shows. It's bad enough stopping for traffic lights and listening to "it" blaring on a nearby car radio (and wishing the light would change fast). When MTV became RapTV, we never watched it again.
LOL!
Those were the good old days. We watched news anchors chatting before the actual news was shown. There were other feeds from foreign countries and of educational value. Those were the good old days.
I suspect the reason MTV stopped being Music TV in the first place was because the RIAA, with its typical business sense, decided that MTV should pay it enormous royalties for the privilege of giving the RIAA free advertising.
And because of this insane greed, the RIAA lost the most brilliant advertising medium ever invented. Today, if you asked most people who are the top stars in music, most they would name were already stars in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, and on MTV.
New artists would come up very short, with only two or three recognizable.
And if you asked about artists that were very big in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, most people could name, or at least recognize dozens. Artists whose albums they bought.
I truly hope that the RIAA sponsors Obama’s reelection campaign. By voting day, most people would have forgotten he was even running.
Channels for morons and sissies. I’d be glad to see them go!
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