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January 25, 2016 1:32 pm  #1


Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs (4% of workforce) in TV, radio, publishing and back-office roles. Statement here:

As you are aware, the media industry continues to experience significant pressures from a softening advertising market, fierce competition from global players, and shifting audience consumption habits.

Today we shared with our employees that we will be undergoing some changes at Rogers Media.  We have identified cost efficiencies in production, operations and procurement, and have made the difficult decision to reduce headcount, primarily affecting conventional TV, radio, publishing and back-office positions.

Approximately 200 positions wil be impacted, representing 4% of our workforce at Rogers Media.  These changes will begin in February and will conclude as soon as possible.

This was not an easy decision, but was right for our business long-term.  There will be tough days ahead, but we will communicate as much as we can with our employees to keep them informed throughout this challenging time of transition.

While difficult, these changes are essential to delivering on our Rogers 3.0 plan and to position us for continued success and future growth while helping us effectively manage costs.


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
 

January 25, 2016 1:57 pm  #2


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Here they go again. 

From the Globe and Mail:

"The cuts will primarily affect Rogers’ conventional television, radio and publishing operations as well as back-office roles, Ms. Goldstein said. She said “today’s announcement impacts all areas of Rogers Media, except for the Toronto Blue Jays."

Rogers Media to cut 200 jobs across TV, radio, publishing divisions
 

 

January 25, 2016 3:01 pm  #3


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Never saw the term "reduce headcount" in one of these announcements. But I guess to them, people are just annoying little "heads" to be "counted." So let's have fewer heads.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

January 25, 2016 5:02 pm  #4


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

ig wrote:

These changes will begin in February and will conclude as soon as possible....While difficult, these changes are essential to delivering on our Rogers 3.0 plan and to position us for continued success and future growth while helping us effectively manage costs.

So the changes will begin in February.
 
Hmmm. O.K., I’m not a tin foil hat wearer or a Coast to Coast listener. But this timing is interestingly suspicious and shows how devious Rogers may be.
 
On Monday, the CRTC began hearings into the future of local TV stations, especially newscasts, and whether they’re important to local markets and how to keep them viable in a difficult time. Calls for comments from the public are due by February 3rd and then the Commission will decide on a new policy, which may include some form of funding – which subscribers will surely pay for.
 
Rogers starts cutting staff in February, just as the CRTC begins to mull how to make them richer by saving the local newscasts. So they can fire a ton of people and if by some strange chance, the CRTC later comes back with compensation, cancelled or cut back newscasts might return – with new staff who will surely make a lot less than those let go in this latest purge.
 
As most here know, I’m no fan of this bloated entity that has been allowed way too much control of all things media in this country. But I have to hand it to them – this is pure greedy genius. They win either way and the workers – as they so often do - emerge with a lot less than when they came in.
 
And by the way, is there anything more odious than referring to this as “Rogers 3.0?” As if it’s simply a computer program upgrade and not what it really is – another mass firing from a company that’s had far too many of them over the years.

 

January 25, 2016 11:19 pm  #5


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Dale Patterson wrote:

Never saw the term "reduce headcount" in one of these announcements. But I guess to them, people are just annoying little "heads" to be "counted." So let's have fewer heads.

And the money they'll save on not buying all those headphones.  It'll be huge.  Typical. 

This is still the beginning of there being, really, no end in sight.  If they could get the cleaning staff to do all of the voice-overs and production work...it'd be ACES.  These 'Media' companies got TOO big [and too stupid] for their own good.  As such we'll see a couple of them go tits up.  Shareholders????  It serves YOU right.  Wallow in your losses.
 

 

January 25, 2016 11:43 pm  #6


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

They're not just cutting 200 jobs, they're also raising rates...and not just cable rates either. 
Internet will have a $3 increase applied, Home Phone, a $2 increase, Digital cable has anywhere from $1-$4 increases that will apply, depending on what you pay for. (ie HD VIP is about to get a $4 increase)
Various theme packs are also going up a dollar. 
Digital plus and MeTV packages will be increasing by $2

Earth to Rogers! Come in Rogers! Cable internet and home phone are not hot and cold running water!


 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

January 26, 2016 11:44 am  #7


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Here's another thing I don't understand. Why would you announce you're going to fire more than 200 people in various departments before you actually do it? Did they learn nothing from Tim Hudak? A source at one Rogers outlet in Toronto tells me the mood at their stations is understandably nervous. Great for company morale, huh?

In the past, layoffs are announced on the day that they're done. They're terrible, they're painful, but you don't have to go in to work every day wondering if you'll be there tomorrow. The only thing I can think of is that Rogers was trying to boost its stock price with the early announcement (stocks usually go up when a company announces it's cutting costs.)

Letting all those people hang in employment uncertainty until sometime in February, just so they can make a few more bucks is unconscionable. If that is indeed the case, they're even a more soulless evil empire than I thought.

Release the hounds! Montgomery Burns would be proud.

Last edited by RadioActive (January 26, 2016 11:47 am)

 

January 26, 2016 12:16 pm  #8


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Rick "Brace" yourselves....

 

January 26, 2016 4:05 pm  #9


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Old Codger wrote:

Dale Patterson wrote:

Never saw the term "reduce headcount" in one of these announcements. But I guess to them, people are just annoying little "heads" to be "counted." So let's have fewer heads.

And the money they'll save on not buying all those headphones.  It'll be huge.  Typical. 

This is still the beginning of there being, really, no end in sight.  If they could get the cleaning staff to do all of the voice-overs and production work...it'd be ACES.  These 'Media' companies got TOO big [and too stupid] for their own good.  As such we'll see a couple of them go tits up.  Shareholders????  It serves YOU right.  Wallow in your losses.
 

=12px>> If they could get the cleaning staff to do all of the voice-overs and production work...it'd be ACES.

Don't give them ideas...
 


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

January 26, 2016 4:33 pm  #10


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Sorry Dale...it SOUNDS like it's already the new industry standard.

You mean it isn't?

 

January 26, 2016 5:26 pm  #11


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

RadioActive wrote:

Here's another thing I don't understand. Why would you announce you're going to fire more than 200 people in various departments before you actually do it?

I think your earlier post answers your later one .  I tend to agree, this is a shot across the CRTC bough to see what happens. If there's a positive reaction from the comm. I'd imagine they'll hold of on any 'action' till after the hearings in Feb.

who knows.

 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
     Thread Starter
 

February 10, 2016 6:48 pm  #12


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Some (if not all) of these happened today. Kudos to Rogers for making their staff walk on eggshells for two weeks.

When you have to pull the trigger, just do it, don't warn me.

 

February 10, 2016 8:16 pm  #13


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

First word on where the cuts have started.   Any other updates ??​Early cuts in The Big Nickel.

http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2016/02/10-rogers-radio-cuts-sudbury.aspx
 

 

February 10, 2016 8:26 pm  #14


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

 
 rogers-radio-cuts-sudbury.
 
The receptionist ????  Really ?????  F*ck me...



 

Last edited by unclefester (February 10, 2016 8:27 pm)


  
 

February 10, 2016 9:57 pm  #15


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Actually during the last round of Bell cuts, the receptionist in Barrie was also gassed.  But because it was during the Christmas season and someone had to be at the front door to greet those arriving with donations to their Christmas toy and food campaign, that person was asked to sign a contract and stick around for another month or so.​Now gone.

 

February 10, 2016 10:36 pm  #16


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Change your provider.  Get a different phone.  Don't listen to their piss-filled radio stations or watch their TV stations.  Bring 'em to their knees. 

Wait...they're already on their knees...servicing their shareholders.  Take THEM down too.

 

February 11, 2016 12:50 am  #17


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Old Codger wrote:

Change your provider.  Get a different phone.  Don't listen to their piss-filled radio stations or watch their TV stations.  Bring 'em to their knees. 

Wait...they're already on their knees...servicing their shareholders.  Take THEM down too.

Actually, the better solution is to keep watching TV and listening to the radio, but to shop at the competition to the ads you see and hear. Problem solved...
 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

February 11, 2016 8:42 am  #18


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

... or just shop in your community and support your local economy.  Oh yeah, don't think of Bell, Rogers or Shaw too much because you can't let the bastards get you down.  Have a happy day. 

Radiowiz wrote:

Old Codger wrote:

Change your provider.  Get a different phone.  Don't listen to their piss-filled radio stations or watch their TV stations.  Bring 'em to their knees. 

Wait...they're already on their knees...servicing their shareholders.  Take THEM down too.

Actually, the better solution is to keep watching TV and listening to the radio, but to shop at the competition to the ads you see and hear. Problem solved...
 

 


- Not an industry person.  Just a guy with a love of Toronto radio. 
 

February 11, 2016 6:30 pm  #19


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

unclefester wrote:

 
 rogers-radio-cuts-sudbury.
 
The receptionist ????  Really ?????  F*ck me...

What's worse is that said receptionist was doubling as the promo rep. It seems versatility no longer cuts the mustard.

Thanks radio for continuing to insist on eating itself!

 

February 11, 2016 6:49 pm  #20


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

I don't get it?!?  Mock hittin' 'em where it hurts all you want.  It only means that YOU don't give a shit for the rotten plight of those who deserved MUCH better.

I don't watch CHCH anymore.  I will not watch Rogers TV.  Their radio sucked so badly I never listened to it anyway.  And Bell?  Sorry.  They do radio and TV because?  Because they paid for it...not because they have a friggin' CLUE what they're doing.

Shyte floats...but not forever.

Ol' Bernie down there south of the border...  He ain't wrong...and LOADS of people KNOW it.  Ol' 'the Donald' is wrong...but only because he's a spoiled brat and ignorant in terms of how the rest of the world spins.

People have had ENOUGH.

 

February 11, 2016 9:23 pm  #21


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Playing devil's advocate for a sec. what are the companies supposed to do?  continue to operate the stations at a loss to protect jobs?  How long could that realistically be expected to last.  Look at the Superbowl example.... CTV pays money to air it,  people do everything they can to avoid the CTV broadcast with their commercials on it.  Another network buys a series, and people just go to youtube or a torrent site and download it, watching it, commercial free and with no credit to the legal purchaser.  

We bitch about how much tax we pay, and then we bitch that more money doesn't support private broadcasters.  There's no winning here.  would you continue to pour money into a venture where there was no return?  Shareholders are in it for profit, not for charity.

I don't know what the solution is,  I know it isn't government pouring bucket loads of money into these institutions to subsidize their existence.    Yet they are piloried for cutting back when, they have no real options.  

It's interesting that we don't shit on the pirates distributing programing these companies have paid to deliver to homes, and are being cut off at the knees by.

It's easy to shit from on-high, saying how awful it is for them to be letting people go, and laying people off in this economy etc.  Yet when we are individually faced with a cash issue we do exactly the same thing, cut back, tighten belts, etc.   

Wouldn't it be a much bigger tragedy if they continued to pour good money after bad, only to eventually have to declare bankruptcy because there's just no more water left in the well to give?  Instead of hundreds of people being laid off, thousands are.  How does that help?

If you've never been responsible for a budget, either at home or at work, you're excused.  But if you have been, you know sometimes you have to make rotten shitty decisions, whether it's cutting Treehouse at home, or cutting staff in the office.  It happens, and these companies don't have a god given responsibility to put themselves under just to maintain an unnecessarily bloated workforce.  

The same people bitching about the PostMedia layoffs, I'll bet, haven't had a post media subscription in years.  They get their news, free, via the web, and post their opinions, free, via the same medium.  They have no skin in the game, yet scream like stuck pigs anyway.

 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
     Thread Starter
 

February 12, 2016 1:42 am  #22


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

^The smaller markets need to get back to tax write off mode for growth in the business.
The problem with my thinking, is that it does not secure that Joe smith or Jill whoever will go from a smaller market Bell owned radio station right into a larger market Bell owned station.

Instead, the problem is, the smaller market station just helped someone become good enough to go to a place like Toronto and work for a Rogers owned station and get great ratings for them instead of Bell.

If there could be a way to write off a smaller market and let it function as a not for profit venture in exchange for the security that a smaller market employee will only go to the larger market station owned by the same company, this would be a very good investment, but that's not how things work...

(I believe the words I'm looking for here are "farm team" or the "polish up") 

 

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 12, 2016 1:50 am)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

February 12, 2016 5:15 am  #23


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

ig wrote:

Playing devil's advocate for a sec. what are the companies supposed to do?  continue to operate the stations at a loss to protect jobs?   . . . . . . . . . . The same people bitching about the PostMedia layoffs, I'll bet, haven't had a post media subscription in years.  They get their news, free, via the web, and post their opinions, free, via the same medium.  They have no skin in the game, yet scream like stuck pigs anyway

That was profound.     You should host some kind of a Money show.     Perhaps Sundays when people have time to let it all sink in.


kilgore

 

February 12, 2016 5:49 am  #24


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

Not sure they're operating at a loss Ig.  Some yes.  Some no.  If they are ... those managers should be fired for incompetence.  When things don't look too great...you stop hiring people.  Someone retires or leaves for greener pastures you thank them but you don't replace them.  You spread their work load out over several desks.  Many of these places have too many employees.  Slowly cut back through natural attritian and then don't allow yourself to get so FAT again.  To, en masse, fire hundreds out the door almost simultaneously looks entirely desperate,  undeniably weak, totally stupid and it also looks like a monster that DOESN"T know wtf it's doing.  That'll attract investors and shareholders how?

Of course paying through the nose and out the ass for hockey already told us THAT.  Rogers is now an entirely stupid corp.  Get out while there's still a chance.  They're a 20th century mega blunder.  That they're not the only one means little.  These media 'people' began their slow motion suicide 20 some-odd years ago.  The Slaights and Waters?  They KNEW when to hit the road.

TV as we knew it is shutting down.  Local radio will remain important...regional air signals won't.

Last edited by Old Codger (February 12, 2016 5:51 am)

 

February 12, 2016 9:14 am  #25


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

The challenge is that the distressed properties require investment, more importantly innovation and risk taking - all three are not in the DNA of a shareholder driven company.   This is the challenge of today's radio landscape - its all margin driven.   It is what it is.   The days of Ted Rogers losing millions because he believed in the future of 680 News are long gone.

 

February 12, 2016 10:10 am  #26


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

What are the companies supposed  to do??

Well a good place to start would be customer service. Tonight at 8 p.m. C.B.C. Marketplace  will air their latest episode. It will highlight the higher-than-high prices that Canadians pay for their cell phone service and at the same time highlight the shoddy customer service that often goes along with their bill. It's my understanding that Marketplace will advocate on behalf of a number of  "typical"  Canadians who have real problems with their providers and can't get no satisfaction.  Tonight at 8 p.m. It's all about the customer right ???

When I left radio I went into a customer service business. I had customers in my business, face-to-face every single day, 7 days a week. It's all about customer service...always.  Problem solved.

Any other questions??


Next...



 

Last edited by unclefester (February 12, 2016 10:11 am)


  
 

February 12, 2016 10:56 am  #27


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

But it's not all about customer service, it's also about theft.   If people are just stealing the shows online there's nothing the terrestrials can do to compete with that.  They pay millions for a series that people go online on Youtube or Pirate bay and grab in 10 minutes.

Not a great example but by the time PBS could afford to bring Downton Abbey to TVs it had already been available on torrent sites for months.   How many people watch big bang theory, or download it the next morning, and adding insult to injury, the pirates cut out the commercials.

It calls for new models and new ways of thinking, and those ways involve far less humans and far more computing power.  

In the example above, with Rogers pouring millions into 680 news, or the Slaights pouring millions into Standard stations, time was part of the equation.  They were in it for the long term.    Rogers, Bell, Shaw, whatever investors are in it to make a profit, and if it starts to slip they'll move their funds elsewhere.  It's not personal, it's not even on the same planet as personal.  Much of the time these buy/sell decisions are made by bits and bytes.
 

Last edited by ig (February 12, 2016 10:58 am)


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
     Thread Starter
 

February 12, 2016 11:02 am  #28


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

wooooooowwwwww   I host the show and facilitate the guests, but at NO point have I ever portrayed myself as a money expert or a labour law expert or a real estate expert or a clogged drain expert for that matter.  I regularly get text messages pointing out what stupid question I just asked, and my opinions challenged because someone 'in my position at the station' should know better.  I usually don't, and don't pretend I do.

Usually I figure if I'm interested in the answer, someone else may be also.  

Admittedly I'm not afraid to fall on my sword for a good bit, but that's entertainment, not education.



Kilgore wrote:

ig wrote:

Playing devil's advocate for a sec. what are the companies supposed to do?  continue to operate the stations at a loss to protect jobs?   . . . . . . . . . . The same people bitching about the PostMedia layoffs, I'll bet, haven't had a post media subscription in years.  They get their news, free, via the web, and post their opinions, free, via the same medium.  They have no skin in the game, yet scream like stuck pigs anyway

That was profound.     You should host some kind of a Money show.     Perhaps Sundays when people have time to let it all sink in.


kilgore

 


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
     Thread Starter
 

February 12, 2016 11:20 am  #29


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

ig wrote:

I host the show and facilitate the guests, but at NO point have I ever portrayed myself as a money expert or a labour law expert or a real estate expert or a clogged drain expert for that matter

Our moderator is not only smart but humble as well; a rare combo



kilgore
 

 

February 12, 2016 1:04 pm  #30


Re: Rogers Media cutting 200 jobs

The biggest problem with the endless cuts is not that corporations don't have the right to do so. That ship sailed a long time ago when the CRTC and the Competition Bureau got out of the way of concentration of ownership. The problem is that the resulting dilution in product and accountability is making media irrelevant.  If for example news is not profitable, which in large measure it is not, then it becomes a target for cost-cutting.  The result is that news is not properly or responsibly reported, and we are left with user-contributed video and commentary that is little better than social media chatter.  In the meantime, government, corporate interests, and other organizations operating in pursuit of self-interest go un-scrutinized.  What interest is being served there?  Is it any coincidence that federal cuts to the CBC's budget make it more difficult for reporters to do their jobs and demand accountability?  If the CBC is under-resourced, who is asking the tough questions and demanding difficult answers?  Private broadcasters can't make money at it so they spend their efforts reporting on explosions and catastrophes in an attempt to cling to their dwindling viewership, not covering events of relevance and national concern.  Frequently their corporate masters don't want them doing the hard stuff anyway - ask Kevin Crull.  Information can't be a for-profit enterprise.  That's why a healthy public broadcaster is in the national interest.