Paramount Media Networks, Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios to Lay Off 25% of U.S. Staff

MTV News will be shut down.

One-quarter of all Paramount Media Networks, Showtime, and MTV Entertainment Studios U.S. staff will be laid off. After months of internal deliberations about integration amid Showtime’s rebranding into Paramount+ With Showtime, the decision has been taken.

Additionally, MTV News — which was significantly affected by layoffs more than five years ago — will be shut down.

In a memo to staff, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president Chris McCarthy said that, despite Paramount’s “success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers,” and that “senior leaders in coordination with H.R. have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business. As a result, we have made the tough but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%,” McCarthy said.

The group will be consolidated into “two functions”: Studios – encompassing Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios – and networks, “combining nine separate teams into one portfolio group.”

The affected Paramount-owned networks include Nick, MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, CMT, Smithsonian, T.V. Land, Logo, and Pop T.V.

These cuts come four months after Showtime laid off 120 employees while merging into MTV Entertainment Studios.

Source: Variety