Warner Bros. Discovery hits cable TV department with layoffs

Less than a year after its last major round of cuts, Warner Bros. is reportedly planning to axe more cable TV staffers. Sources for Deadline suggest that the layoffs will be in the double digits, but “well under 100.” The cuts will reportedly largely affect Discovery and its networks, including the Discovery Channel, Investigation Discovery, TLC, and more. 

The restructuring hasn’t gone as well as Zaslav may have hoped. Global Linear Networks saw its operating profit fall 14% to $ 1.8 billion during Q1 with revenue down 6% to $4.8 billion, according to a report the company shared last month. S&P also recently downgraded WBD’s credit rating to junk status primarily based on “continued revenue and cash flow declines at its linear TV operations,” which likely contributed to this particular layoff decision. 

WBD isn’t the only studio to raze positions this week. On Monday, Disney also announced a round of cuts affecting “several hundred” employees across its film, television, and corporate financial operations departments. It’s true that the global economy is in a historically unstable position right now, but in another piece of news, Zaslav just got a $52 million compensation package. Someone who is good at the economy please help WBD budget this.