NBCUniversal has been indiscreetly laying the groundwork for a merging of E! News and “Access Hollywood” staffs, which will lead to budget cuts and layoffs, several individuals with knowledge of the plans told TheWrap.
The first phase of the plan is currently underway as NBCU moves Bravo and E! Entertainment from L.A.’s Miracle Mile to its Universal City headquarters – a process expected to begin later this year.
“The entire move is supposed to be complete by August 2016, but News [department] is up first,” one individual told TheWrap.
At the Universal City offices, E! and NBCU’s syndicated entertainment magazine show, “Access Hollywood,” will share studio and production resources. That will lead to an overlapping of staff and thus layoffs.
“I’ve heard there will be two sets, they’re not going to flip them every day, they’ll be two physical sets directly next to each other,” one staffer told TheWrap. “Cameramen and audio will be unionized, and that’s out there, but I’ve also heard we’ll be sharing editors and physical bays on the tech side, though not in creative and editorial at this time.”
That’s what NBCU executives are currently telling staffers, that only “technical and production resources” will be shared. But, producers are already speculating that the two shows will be sharing more than that when news gathering operations will also be streamlined and combined. Expect to have another round of layoffs for overlapping positions if NBCU goes through with the streamlining process.
An NBCU Cable spokesman told TheWrap, “There is no truth to combining E! News and ‘Access Hollywood’ news gathering staffs. Both will remain separate and distinct.”
Earlier this week, NBCU Cable softened the soil for a future merger when it combined the E! News and online staffs into one unit.
In essence, NBCU is borrowing a page from CBS’s playbook. It currently shares resources and stages for syndicated shows “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider.”
The merging of departments has already become an established business practice at NBCU. NBCU Cable, especially, has created its own recent history of department mergers in which it has combined stronger groups with weaker ones to maximize results.
In the last few years, Bravo’s Frances Berwick has been given oversight over both Esquire and Oxygen networks. Last year when Suzanne Kolb was booted from her job as E! president, NBCU combined Bravo, E!, Esquire and Oxygen into its Lifestyle Networks group and placed those under Berwick’s purview, as well.
Similarly, Esquire Network president Adam Stotsky’s role was expanded to include the position of E! general manager under Berwick. And as Berwick did with Oxygen and Bravo’s publicity teams, Stotsky is expected to combine the E! and Esquire publicity teams in the near future.
The NBCU rep told TheWrap that there are currently “no plans” to combine the E! and Esquire publicity teams.