http://www.thestar.com/business/2016/01/25/rogers-to-cut-200-media-and-admin-jobs.html
It was another bleak day for Canadian news outlets on Monday as Rogers Media moved to trim its workforce by 4 per cent — or 200 jobs.
Rogers Media says the cuts, which will impact jobs in television, radio, publishing and administration, are part of efficiency efforts at Rogers Communications, one of Canada's largest telecom companies.
A memo to Rogers Media staff says the job cuts will begin in February and will conclude as soon as possible.
“Today's announcement impacts all areas within Rogers Media, except the Toronto Blue Jays,” said Andrea Goldstein, the company's senior director of communications, in an email.
Rogers Media operates 24 TV stations, 52 radio stations, 57 publications and 93 websites.
Goldstein said “it is too early” to identify specifics about which programs or publications will be affected. She said changes will happen at all levels in the company across the country.
The latest layoffs come after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission was told that half of the country's local TV stations could be off the air by 2020 without a boost in revenues to pay for local programming.
The warning comes in a study submitted to the federal broadcast watchdog as it kicked off hearings into local and community television programming in Gatineau on Monday.
Howard Law, director of the media sector for Unifor — a union representing some Rogers Media employees — said the news of yet more layoffs in the media business is foreboding.
“We're going down the path where journalism and the coverage of news that's important for a functioning democracy is at existential risk in this country,” he said from Ottawa.
Rogers did not announce plans to offer employee buyouts, but if workers come forward requesting a package “we will evaluate at that time,” Goldstein said.
The company also recently announced a $5 price hike to monthly share-everything cellphone contracts for new customers and $10-$15 increases in monthly costs for new customers who bring their own devices.
“We have made these adjustments to reflect ongoing network and service investments and current market conditions impacting our industry,” said Aaron Lazarus, a company spokesman.
Rogers releases its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday.
In October, the company reported a big increase in third-quarter profits. Rogers reported that profits grew nearly 40 per cent to $464 million from $332 million in the three months ended Sept. 30.
Unifor is lobbying the CRTC to require cable companies that own broadcasters, like Rogers, to spend cable company profits on programming.
Rogers’ cuts come amid recent layoffs at other Canadian media organizations.
Bell Media cut 380 jobs from its operations, production and editorial staff in November, while The Guelph Mercury daily newspaper announced Monday it will stop publishing its print editions this week, impacting 23 full-time and three part-time jobs.
Earlier this month, Postmedia announced about 90 job cuts as it moved to merge newsrooms in four cities to help the company trim $80 million in expenses by mid-2017. Torstar, the company that owns Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, the Toronto Star, announced in January that it was laying off more than 300 production and editorial employees.
—With files from Raju Mudhar
It was another bleak day for Canadian news outlets on Monday as Rogers Media moved to trim its workforce by 4 per cent — or 200 jobs.
Rogers Media says the cuts, which will impact jobs in television, radio, publishing and administration, are part of efficiency efforts at Rogers Communications, one of Canada's largest telecom companies.
A memo to Rogers Media staff says the job cuts will begin in February and will conclude as soon as possible.
“Today's announcement impacts all areas within Rogers Media, except the Toronto Blue Jays,” said Andrea Goldstein, the company's senior director of communications, in an email.
Rogers Media operates 24 TV stations, 52 radio stations, 57 publications and 93 websites.
Goldstein said “it is too early” to identify specifics about which programs or publications will be affected. She said changes will happen at all levels in the company across the country.
The latest layoffs come after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission was told that half of the country's local TV stations could be off the air by 2020 without a boost in revenues to pay for local programming.
The warning comes in a study submitted to the federal broadcast watchdog as it kicked off hearings into local and community television programming in Gatineau on Monday.
Howard Law, director of the media sector for Unifor — a union representing some Rogers Media employees — said the news of yet more layoffs in the media business is foreboding.
“We're going down the path where journalism and the coverage of news that's important for a functioning democracy is at existential risk in this country,” he said from Ottawa.
Rogers did not announce plans to offer employee buyouts, but if workers come forward requesting a package “we will evaluate at that time,” Goldstein said.
The company also recently announced a $5 price hike to monthly share-everything cellphone contracts for new customers and $10-$15 increases in monthly costs for new customers who bring their own devices.
“We have made these adjustments to reflect ongoing network and service investments and current market conditions impacting our industry,” said Aaron Lazarus, a company spokesman.
Rogers releases its fourth-quarter results on Wednesday.
In October, the company reported a big increase in third-quarter profits. Rogers reported that profits grew nearly 40 per cent to $464 million from $332 million in the three months ended Sept. 30.
Unifor is lobbying the CRTC to require cable companies that own broadcasters, like Rogers, to spend cable company profits on programming.
Rogers’ cuts come amid recent layoffs at other Canadian media organizations.
Bell Media cut 380 jobs from its operations, production and editorial staff in November, while The Guelph Mercury daily newspaper announced Monday it will stop publishing its print editions this week, impacting 23 full-time and three part-time jobs.
Earlier this month, Postmedia announced about 90 job cuts as it moved to merge newsrooms in four cities to help the company trim $80 million in expenses by mid-2017. Torstar, the company that owns Canada’s largest circulation newspaper, the Toronto Star, announced in January that it was laying off more than 300 production and editorial employees.
—With files from Raju Mudhar
