Is Channel 10 Safe From Media General Lay-Offs?
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Media General, the Richmond, Virginia, company that owns Channel 10 here in Providence, is in for some bumpy roads.
There are indications that Media General will be announcing lay-offs as early as this week. There are not many details yet, but, word has it that both WFLA-TV in Tampa and the Tampa Tribune (also owned by Media General) will be forced to let people go.
Media General owns 18 network-affiliated TV stations along with 21 daily newspapers. For the first quarter of 2011, the company reported an operating loss of $4.2 million compared to an operating profit of $8.7 million in the first quarter last year.
What will happen at Channel 10?
GoLocal spoke with Channel 10 President and General Manager Lisa Churchville, who said she could not comment on any issues related to Media General’s anticipated lay-offs in Florida. However, she did say, Providence is safe - for now. “There are no planned lay-offs for the Rhode Island or Ohio markets," Churchville said. (Churchville mentioned Ohio because those two TV stations are hitched together within the corporate structure at Media General.)
Last Lay-offs in 2009
The last time there were lay-offs at the NBC affiliate was in March of 2009. Twelve jobs were cut from the staff back then, including Chief Meteorologist Gary Ley (who has since been hired back), anchor Kelley McGee and news director Betty-Jo Cugini (who was extremely valuable to the organization and a key player). Churchville said that as of 2010, the hiring picture as improved - about 20 people have been hired by the station. However, as she further points out, not all of those positions were full-time. Still, as the station had been at some pretty bare bones, any hiring is good as it helps generate more content.
Churchville, just like other broadcast executives around here, realizes that a bottom line tied to advertising and spending continues to be a challenge. So while Channel 10 has just come off a strong ratings period for May, it is not 100% guaranteed that some future action related to jobs and people might have to be taken. The wild card is of course how RI’s economy will perform for the rest of the year.
The station has just made improvements to the news set and also has a jazzy new weather graphics package and is now broadcasting in HD. In addition, last week's weather event/tornado in Springfield, MA helped shuffle a lot of viewers who "Turned to 10". Ratings information for when the storm was at its worst show that at 6pm the station had close to a 17-rating which equals about 105,000 households watching. 16 or 17 rating numbers at 6pm - even for Channel 10 - are rare to never these days so management is obviously happy with those numbers. You could make a case to the Media General head honchos easily for why resources should not be cut at a station like Channel 10 because it is clear the station performs ratings book after ratings book.
Newspaper Effect?
In looking at Media General’s Web site, it is interesting to note that the Rhode Island and Ohio TV markets do not have newspaper entities. Places like Florida, where the lay-offs are expected, do have a strong newspaper presence which goes to show yet again how newspapers all around the country continue to struggle.
We just saw more proof of that here last week. Reportedly, The Providence Journal was forced to cut staff. Positions in the advertising department were eliminated late last week because of what else – shrinking advertising revenue. Also it was reported that the paper has decided to out-source how it handles the circulation department.
Media companies in general - not just Media General - continue to face the dilemma of shrinking advertising dollars and ways to compete with the digital revolution that has become the 800-lb gorilla that just keeps getting bigger every single day.
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