Peacock To Be Plucked

[SoulManX]

Despite notable improvements in each of its broadcast units, NBC Universal is expected to announce today (Thursday) widespread cost-cutting measures, including the elimination of 5 percent of its work force, amounting to about 700 jobs, by the end of next year, published reports said today. The network reportedly plans to stop scheduling costly programs in the 8:00 p.m. hour, when the total number of TV viewers is smaller than it is at 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. It is expected to fill the hour with game shows and other reality programs that cost far less to produce than the comedies and dramas that currently occupy the time slot. Nevertheless, today's Wall Street Journal reported that the biggest cutbacks will occur in the network's news units. Among the cost-saving measures will be the relocation of MSNBC's studios in Secaucus, NJ to company headquarters at Rockefeller Center in New York. In reporting the planned retrenchment, the Journal commented that it represents "the starkest recognition yet that established TV networks can't keep carrying the high costs they were accustomed to in earlier decades, when they faced less competition for viewers' attention. Although the networks have been discussing radical prescriptions for years, they have often hesitated to take steps that would disrupt not only their own employees but also longtime business partners in Hollywood such as programming studios, talent agencies and syndicators of reruns."