Rogers to axe 200 jobs to cut costs

Canadian media giant Rogers Communications is to cut 200 jobs across its TV, radio and publishing units as it looks to reduce costs.

The figure represents about 4% of the company’s entire workforce, and comes as concern over the future of Canada’s media sector abounds.

The cuts will begin next month, according to The Wall Street Journal, which quoted a Rogers spokeswoman as saying: “We have identified cost efficiencies in production, operations and procurement, and have made the difficult decision to reduce head count, primarily affecting conventional TV, radio, publishing, and back-office positions.”

Rogers’ primary TV asset is the City network, though it also has sports and specialty channels.

An in-depth report from Nordicity on changes to Canada’s media economy released earlier this month suggests as many as 15,000 jobs are at risk overall.

It is predicted there will be a reduction of around C$400 million (US$283 million) in spending on original programming by 2020 as the result of changes to the existing quota and channel bundling systems, which are being relaxed as the popularity of on-demand platforms increases.

Bell Media, which is in the process of being acquired by Corus Entertainment for US$2.65 billion, saw 380 staff cut from its division by parent Bell Communications at the end of last year.