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Budget Cuts Hit CBS Staff

Dec 15, 2008  •  Post A Comment

CBS Corp. has joined other television companies in cutting staff to trim budgets, with two top executives at the company’s television studio and several mid-level network staffers among the casualties.
Maria Crenna, the head of development for CBS Paramount, is the highest-ranking executive impacted by the moves, according to a person familiar with the cuts. Also leaving the studio: Comedy development chief Brian Banks and a vice president in the current programming department.
At the CBS Television Network, divisions taking hits include current programming, program planning and publicity. CBS did not make any staff reductions to its alternative, comedy or drama development teams, said the network insider familiar with the cuts.
So far, the staff reductions at CBS Entertainment aren’t as widespread as those that hit NBC Universal two weeks ago, when 500 jobs were eliminated. CBS’s corporate cousin Viacom Inc. has already announced 850 workers would lose their jobs.
A CBS spokesman declined to comment on the cuts or discuss numbers.
In the wake of NBC’s decision to merge its network and studio operations—and news that ABC might be mulling a similar move—there’s naturally been speculation that CBS might do the same.
However, two CBS insiders familiar with the network’s thinking said such a scenario has been ruled out. CBS and CBS Paramount already work closely with each other.
(Editor: Baumann)

48 Comments

  1. I wonder how many people decided to boycott the networks during the presidential election due to the heavily pro-Obama coverage. I know I did. No more network Television in our house to this day. We want to see them crash and burn for their biased coverage of Obama. I certainly hope they all go down.

  2. Hmm, Donna, I’m gonna take a stab here… but probably just you.
    Don’t know many other people so angry at the world that they’ll stop watching “CSI: Miami” because of how Obama was covered by the news.

  3. I couldn’t agree more with Donna’s comments. Network television, particularly evening newscasts and the morning talkers, are never allowed in our home. The news is so biased and the programs so simplistic, viewing is a waste of time. The BBC newscasts are a fine alternative.

  4. For all of us who had to put up with the injustices and humiliations of the 8 years of the Bush administration, you have some nerve getting in a huff over Obama. And don’t forget that unbiased news network you could have watched–Fox News!!

  5. So what’s this story has to do with the election? Ok, it’s Obama’s fault the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers suck this season… 🙂

  6. Nothing biased toward Obama when every channel was running the same 10 seconds of Rev. Wright all day and all night, trying to turn people against Obama for something some freakin preacher said. Fortunately, enough people were smart enough to see past the network’s attempt to derail Obama’s campaign.
    So yeah – you guys thinking the media’s pro-anything are flat wrong. Obama’s a decent guy. He’ll likely be a very good president and surely can’t be any worse than what we’ve had the past 8 years. Much better chance to get our country on the right track than with McCain or anyone else who threw their hat in the ring.

  7. Wow Wow Donna you sure have a small world view about things….You Don’t like the election coverage on the Networks, so you hope they all go out of business and everybody loses there jobs.
    You must be one of those compassionate conservatives

  8. CBS News’ philosophy makes Barney Frank look like Rush Limbaugh. We once had Uncle Walter who insured balance. Then came Dan. He was unbalanced. Enter the steady Bob Schiefer. We rebound. Moonves couldn’t handle happy employees. He hires Sean MacAnus. MacAnus hired Katie and debut a format that’s a cross between Larry King LIVE and ET. Ratings plummet. They try doing news again. Ratings continue freefall. The last best hope? The unconventional news viewer a/k/a Obama supporters. CBS leads the 2008 funeral procession network news. Katie becomes the woman who killed Black Rock.

  9. Donna is correct, you can’t have it both ways folks. First blame Bush for everything and then play the ignorant self righteous lefty?? Nope, not gonna fly, not without consequences – the right isn’t stupid… we have wallets and we have our clickers.
    I actually have high hopes for Mr Obama. I didn’t vote for him and I don’t agree with many things he stands for but he is now my president and I will support him and the office.
    I won’t hate him because he’s religious or not religious. I won’t call him disrespectful names because of his policies aren’t in line with mine.
    Even if he slips up I won’t blame every freakin problem in the world on him, unlike the left who will probably blame Bush or Reagan for anything Obama does wrong. I will however stop watching crap News programs and television shows that treat their viewers like 12 year olds… good-by, your fired.
    Pssst… hey do you guys remember “Bush is a liar”? and “Blood for oil”?
    Do you lefties really think Bush went’ to Iraq because he likes to kill people or fun? do you really believe that? really?
    Do you really think he went for the oil? really? If so then your just as ignorant as the whack job right wingers… think about that for a minute.
    I think he went because he thought it was the right thing to do. And I think if he could do it all over again he probably wouldn’t… but because he’s a man of resolve and dignity he did the right thing and stuck to it knowing that pulling out would have been an even greater mistake. Most people hate him now… but he stuck to it anyway. I wish I had that kind of courage. History will be kinder to Bush than many think. Bet my words Obama will not pull out. He told you near sighted folks what you wanted to hear but he’s not stupid. He’s seen the intelligence reports and he will not pull out until it’s time.
    Sorry, just letting off some steam, that’s what these comment columns are for right? 😉
    Merry Christmas everybody! ooops, can you still say that in public? God help us all!… ooops, can you still say God?
    Ken

  10. and oh yeah, I won’t blame one man for the ENTIRE world economy. That would be as narrow minded as believing we all came from Monkeys. (Although some journalists in Iraq have made a good case for the argument!)
    Hey, was that a size 10 that just went flying by??
    Goyo, do you feel better? I think your watching too much Keith Olbermann my friend.
    Three posts… and all Caps! good stuff.

  11. Where in the story did any of you read the word ‘news’ or the word ‘News’? The story concerns “the staff reductions at CBS Entertainment”.
    I do wish people would read before commenting and/or throwing tantrums.

  12. It’a all Bush’s fault! He made me do it!

  13. One wonders how people will react after January 20 when Bush is gone?
    Oh yeah, they’ll blame Bush for his past actions, silly me.
    Donna’s right – the question is whether other viewers can take a step back and empirically notice that CBS News’ coverage was very heavily tilted in a pro-Obama way.
    That’s not a Republican or Democrat statement, just an observation.

  14. What do these comments have to do with CBS Entertainment?
    Are you all just plain idiots? CBS Entertainment airs shows like “CSI” and “Two and a Half Men.” It has nothing to do with CBS News.
    Or are you all just fire breathing, Fox News spewing parrots, with no actual thoughts or intelligence of your own?
    Are you next going to leave comments on a “High School Musical” fan site because that movie’s on TV, and you once saw Obama on TV?

  15. Thank you, “stoopid(which, by the way, you are most certainly not)”, for your spot-on observation. Donna probably lives next door to Terry Rakolta, the one-mother wrecking ball who tried to do in the Fox network(ironically, run by conservative Rupert Murdoch)boycotting advertisers on “Married…with Children.” That show, by the way, outlasted her campaign.
    I believe the crappy state of the economy is driving all these staff reductions. That’s the shame of it, but CBS seems to be faring a little better with scripted programming than the others…otherwise, Leslie Moonves would move Letterman to 10 p.m., too.

  16. I am amazed at how shallow these posts are. The down fall of our country will be caused by our inability to discuss anything but religion and politics ( see upper, lower and middle east) . The biggest problem facing The Broadcast Networks is the ongoing , borderline criminal, fraud called Nielsen LPM Audience measurement. A hanging chad would be a upgrade here. This story is about folks loosing their jobs. The fact that you are posting here means that you still have one. For you amateur economists and historians, what would our world be like if Timothy McVeigh had able to secure a job in the GM plant in Flint where he grew up watching the men before him work in. ? Some folks don’t layoff well.. remember that.

  17. CBS NEWS covered for the democrats who allowed UNQUALIFIED Americans to get mortgages. This was the fuse that lit the bomb.
    Grow up and stop blaming George Bush for everything!

  18. Fortunately, Barack Obama speaks and thinks logically and intelligently. He ought to make a difference over the long run in helping to heal the divisions knee-jerks and oportunists like O’Reilly and Palin have created in this country and the world.
    Also, and perhaps more fortunately, the small-minded people who have reacted so vehemently to what appears to be a standard cutback story in a down economy, bear out how little support exists in America’s electorate for the bigotry and
    ignorance that now seems to be confined to isolated regions
    of this great land.
    They are dangerous minds, but small in number best confined to venting their prejudices in such posting repositories of opinion.

  19. Isn’t the point that yet another group of people are now out on the street and among the 6.7% of Americans that are currently unemployed? Do we really think the people that were let go at CBS influenced how the presidential campaign was covered by the network? Wishing that companies “crash and burn” is like hoping for a train wreck because you don’t like the train company. In other words, lots of innocent people get hurt. So while you have an option to simply ‘tune out’ because you don’t like the network, wishing indirectly that people will lose their jobs is just plain wrong during these very trying economic times. So Donna, tune out if you want. With all this economic doom and gloom, I for one will be watching “Two and a Half Men” and enjoying a few laughs.

  20. But what will become of Maria Crenna? That’s what I want to know.
    And who is the mysterious “vice president in the current programming department”?
    Election is over. Let’s move on…

  21. Whew! I’m worn out from all the unrelated diatribe between this entry and the story…Oh well, I hope all feel better for having let off some steam….

  22. I find it funny that people (including the right) say that we are winning the war in iraq now post surge…let’s see…the war is expected to cost US $700B…now, how much was the wall street bailout? hmmm, yes, that would be $700B…somewhere Bin Laden is laughing his ass off at us.

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