Cartoon Network announced on Monday that it will be laying off 125 employees from its animation department. This is part of a larger plan to cut costs and make the company more profitable.
Warner Bros Entertainment, owners of Cartoon Network and its subsidiaries, decided to lay off 26% of its animation department.
The company said that the decision was made because they wanted to focus on more adult-oriented content rather than children’s programs like cartoons. Many people are upset by this decision as it could mean less or even no new shows will be produced in time for next year’s airing schedule.
Cartoon Network Studios has produced a number of hit shows, including “Adventure Time,” “Steven Universe,” and “Regular Show.”
The reason behind this is to make television more profitable for the company.
Warner Bros. Entertainment is a media and entertainment company, headquartered in Burbank, California. The company owns and operates the Warner Bros. Pictures film studio, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video (previously known as Warner Vision), New Line Cinema (and its subsidiary companies: Fine Line Features and HBO Independent Productions), DC Entertainment and WarnerMedia Entertainment (formerly TimeWarner). Its name comes from the four founding Warner brothers: Harry, Albert R., Sam S., and Jack L.
Many long-time employees were let go, but some will be able to keep their jobs since they are working on syndication shows which will be needed to air when the network moves to a full-hour commercial-free model.
New Shows
The new shows will be more expensive to produce, but the network is hoping that they will be more profitable. The new shows will also have far fewer ads and will be full-hour commercial-free.
Many who were let go had been with the company for over 10 years. There was no official announcement about what was happening at Cartoon Network until now when we found out that there would be fewer hours of programming on weekdays because of this change.
These layoffs are part of a larger plan to cut costs and make the company more profitable.
In a statement, a Cartoon Network representative said that the layoffs were intended to make the company more profitable.
“We are taking steps to ensure our content pipeline is full of great programming, and in order to do that we need to make some tough decisions,” they told Variety. “Unfortunately, these cuts were necessary.”
This may not seem like a huge number at first glance (even though it’s more than half of the studio’s animation department). However, it’s pretty significant considering that Cartoon Network’s New York operation has existed for only about five years. It was created after Viacom bought out Time Warner Cable (TWC) in 2013. They then combined their children’s networks with those under TWC’s umbrella into one giant brand called Turner Broadcasting System (TBS).
The majority of those impacted were working with Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros Animation.
The majority of those impacted were working with Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros Animation. The company’s plan is to cut costs and make the company more profitable.
There is no doubt that this will affect the shows on Cartoon Network, but there are many other studios that can take their place. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to continue watching our favorite shows as long as they keep making them!
Written By Agustin Perez
Sources
Cartoon Brew: Cartoon Network, As You Know It, Is Gone Thanks To David Zaslav
Vulture: More Layoffs and Restructuring Hit Cartoon Network and Warner Bros.
Polygon: Cartoon Network is not dead, says Warner Bros. — but its future is uncertain
Top Image/Featured Image Courtesy to cyaneyed Flickr Page Creative Commons License
