Disney-ABC To Make Cuts At Broadcast Operations

Disney-ABC Television looks to make more significant layoffs — adding to cuts made earlier this year.

Reports suggest that the company’s cutbacks will occur largely at its broadcast and production operations: ABC Television Network, ABC-owned local TV stations, its production studio, and ABC News.

For the 2016-2017 TV season, ABC Television Network was down 11% to a 1.6 average Nielsen live program-plus-same day time-shifted rating among key 18-49 viewers. This landed ABC in fourth place among the big four networks.

ABC was also down 9% among total viewers to 6.2 million viewers -- good for third place.

Other cuts might also occur at its cable network operations, including Disney Channel and Freeform. Earlier, Disney-ABC witnessed cuts at its biggest cable network -- ESPN -- where an estimated 100 jobs were eliminated.

The Wall Street Journal said as many as 300 jobs could be on the line with the latest round of cuts -- which would yield a 10% savings in costs.

Walt Disney Co.'s stock price down 1.6% on Thursday to close at $101.20.

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