ESPN, Walt Disney’s sports network which stands for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, has been struggling to keep if not improve its revenue. Thus, it has decided to reduce the number of workforce it has to prevent unwanted repercussions from what it is going through at the moment.
According to Reuters, ESPN has already planned out how it will go on with its lower-than-expected revenue. Walt Disney's sports network has opted to cut approximately 350 jobs from the people working for it.
The job cuts will be officially relayed to the employees of the company this Wednesday, as per word from people with knowledge on the matter.
The 350 employees who will lose their jobs account for 4.3 percent of the 8,000 positions in the U.S.-based global cable and satellite television channel.
The network's decision comes more than a month after Disney admitted that its revenue was not getting any better in August.
At the time the company was struggling to increase the number of its subscribers in the face of customers who are now preferring digital platforms for entertainment. ESPN reportedly suffered from "modest" subscriber losses because of this.
On the other hand, CNN Money noted that the job cuts could be a product of or a part of the company's preparation for the "wrenching changes" in the cable television business.
ESPN is dependent solely on subscriber fees, so losing subscribers is a big deal for the company, with sports news site The Big Lead reporting a month ago that Disney had already warned ESPN to "trim $100 million from the 2016 budget and $250 million in 2017."
A representative for the sports network refused to comment on Tuesday, but the company already said in a statement that it does not plan on publicly announcing the cutbacks until it has formally informed its employees about the layoffs.
Disney was previously quoted as saying,"Lower advertising revenues reflected lower ratings and rates," according to USA Today.
In a conference call in August, Disney also admitted to analysts that it has lowered its outlook for ESPN's profit.
At the time, the shares of the sports channel quickly declined by 8 percent; however, it has already rebounded, with the shares up by about 17 percent for this year.
Despite the job cuts that are to be announced this Wednesday, Disney's shares rose by 0.34 percent on Tuesday and ended at $109.84 when trading closed.
