The times are a changin....
Comcast to shut down Esquire Network.
Viacom to rebrand SpikeTVNBCUniversal will shutter Esquire Network’s linear cable channel and relaunch the brand as a digital-only platform, Variety has learned. The decision to end the cable channel’s operation was spurred by recent negotiations with Charter Communications over a carriage-contract renewal.Esquire Network was dropped last month from AT&T’s DirecTV and U-Verse services. That move resulted in a loss of 25% of the channel’s subscribers — down from 60 million to 45 million. If Esquire Network were to be dropped by Charter, it would have lost an additional 15 million subscribers, making it no longer viable for Comcast-owned NBCUniversal to continue to operate.Esquire Network will continue its cable feed through the summer. The channel employs around 50 staffers. Roughly 30 of those employees will likely be downsized, with the remainder kept on to service the brand’s new digital play.
Viacom's male-focused cable network, home to Lip Sync Battle, is expected to be rebranded as the Paramount Network, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. A formal announcement will likely come Thursday morning when Viacom unveils its turnaround plan during its quarterly earnings call.
It's tough out there folks.
Yeah, it is tough out there for us “folks”. Honestly though, I’m proud of my 10 year streak as a network executive. After all, it could be worse, I could have been working an old man whose fortune came from defrauding the Italian taxpayers this whole time. And who knows, maybe I could have gotten to say I was a “Vice President” at conventions while somehow still having to work the reception desk during screenings.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have do have friends in “this business” who know who you are and who’ve seen you working the front desk at HG screenings. To be quite honest we’ve laughed about that fact more than once. But, you shouldn’t be embarrassed by me saying this, since literally no one else is reading this. As the originator of this domain, I still have access to its stats on Google Analytics, and I can tell you that absolutely no one but me has checked this site in 2 years.
Oh, someone else is reading this and laughing at him too, Darkwater.
ReplyDelete