TVNewser has learned Bloomberg TV has laid off up to 30 reporters, producers, associate producers, editors and other staffers this morning as the company shifts to a digital-centric newsroom. As TV employees are cut, Bloomberg plans to add 13 new positions and create a Digital Video Desk focused on moving video productions to web platforms, including tablets, smartphones and desktops. Among those let go, Cris Valerio, a San Francisco-based technology reporter and host of the weekly show “Venture,” which was canceled last year.
The shift has been in the works since Andrew Morse joined as head of Bloomberg TV last summer. Morse spent 15 years at ABC News, most recently at ABC News digital. In an email to staff, obtained by TVNewser, Morse writes that while “new positions” will be added, “we have also had to remove some positions that are no longer aligned with digital newsgathering and production.”
Of the new jobs, to be posted soon, there are six new positions for digital producers and digital strategists, leaving a net loss of about 15 positions.
During the last staff cuts at Bloomberg in early 2009, more than 100 employees from the Radio and TV, including 45 at Bloomberg’s New York City headquarters, were laid off. Those cuts were overseen by then head of Bloomberg TV David Rhodes who is now president of CBS News.
Morse calls the changes “an overdue strategic repositioning.” His note to staff, after the jump…
All,
Today we have made some changes to the structure of the U.S. TV editorial operation that will allow us to expand our production of digital video for all of our platforms.
At the core of this new structure will be our newly formed Digital Video Desk that will work to leverage our video assets across all platforms, with a substantial focus on on-line and mobile.
We have redefined responsibilities for some of our colleagues and we will be adding new positions to take on new challenges. Unfortunately, we have also had to remove some positions that are no longer aligned with digital newsgathering and production.
This is all part of an overdue strategic repositioning to more closely integrate what happens on air with content we are creating for our expanding and innovative digital products.
Andrew