NEW YORK -- NBC Universal announced Thursday it will cut 700 jobs, abandon MSNBC's New Jersey headquarters and shift spending from traditional broadcast TV to digital entertainment, reflecting both hard times at the network and changing times in the media world.
The company, a unit of General Electric Co., said the various moves were expected to save $750 million by the end of 2008.
In what's partly a real-estate move, NBC said it would close MSNBC's headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., splitting studios and office space between NBC's headquarters in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center and another NBC facility in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Similarly out West, NBC will consolidate network, Telemundo and local news facilities in Burbank, Calif.
In a reflection the network can no longer support high programming costs in an atmosphere of diminishing advertising revenue, NBC said it would no longer show expensive scripted comedies or dramas during the first hour of prime-time at 8 p.m.
That means more reality or game shows like "The Biggest Loser" or "Deal or No Deal" at that hour. NBC's new drama "Friday Night Lights" was critically acclaimed this fall, but costs more than twice per episode to make than "Deal or No Deal," and is drawing a smaller audience.
NBC's cost-saving plan involves laying off people from the company's 11 news divisions, including on-air talent, but no details were immediately available.
Great, while these pigs make more money, we're stuck with repeats and more reality-tv shit.
But I found out local news stations, who is going to be the first to go in NBC owned Channel 4 in Washington,DC:
Our sources at NBC 4 say Hudson was "informed" today that he is being "let go" as part of a round of massive cuts coming to NBC, including at its local stations, like WRC. His last day will be in early January.
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