According to the stories coming out, up to 50 TWC staff are on the line now;
no indication how many are on-air vs. behind the scenes.
http://thevane.gawker.com/weather-chann ... 1729587260
These parts are the most telling:
The channel shared a detailed plan with staffers on Wednesday morning.
About 50 of the channel's 1,400 employees will be leaving.
The plan calls for a singular focus "on our unique strength -- and that is the weather."
That means paring back its original programming investments (shows like "Prospectors" and "Fat Guys in the Woods")
and lifestyle coverage. The priority is essential, live weather coverage --
particularly during periods of severe weather -- and local information.
"It's going to cost more money to do longer hours of live, so we have to be more efficient about it."
Wednesday's shakeup is a direct result of discussions with distributors,
advertisers and audience focus groups.
Overall TV spending will be reduced as well. Kenny said "we're now a technology company
that owns a TV channel, not a TV company."
So the big irony now is that they're finally waking up from this long, strange experiment
that turned them into the "Almost Anything But Weather Channel", and sound like they're going
to head back to their roots, but in order to do so, they're getting ready to gut the talent
that can help them do that. Do more with less, in other words.
Have to wonder what TWC will look like 1 year from now...More weather, but probably
few familiar faces. It sounds like, as the saying goes -- no one is safe
.
