The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that The Walt Disney Company is planning a restructuring of its television business that could result in the elimination of several hundred more jobs, alongside the consolidation of various divisions. The restructuring plan is being led by Debra O'Connell, president of Disney Entertainment Television, and details of the plan are not expected to be finalized until later this year. The organizational overhaul aims to reorient the business around streaming users as its central focus, replacing the company's longstanding structure of brands that was designed decades ago to support broadcast television programming. The move is expected to directly affect the executives overseeing various divisions, including ABC Entertainment, Twentieth Television, Hulu Originals and Freeform. The development comes as media industry giants face pressure to cut costs, as cord-cutting and the decline of cable and pay television shrink the once highly profitable broadcast and cable network businesses, while streaming operations have yet to fully generate profits to offset the lost earnings. Disney has been steadily cutting costs; over the past year the company eliminated several hundred positions in its film and television marketing, television media relations, casting, and development and production departments, and throughout this year Disney has carried out multiple rounds of layoffs in its marketing department, Pixar, ABC News and ESPN, and not long ago cut staff in its human resources and technology divisions.
Walt Disney CompanyDisney plans a TV-business restructuring with hundreds more layoffs and division consolidation to cut costs amid cord-cutting and unprofitable streaming.
