News

MTV News is no more.

The news outlet, established 36 years ago with a single show that eventually blossomed into an edgier CNN, with shows on the network and a strong presence online, has been shuttered as part of a major Paramount Global restructuring that sees 25% of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios/Paramount Media laid off.

In a letter sent to staff by Chris McCarthy, Paramount Media Networks’ President, he outlined the restructuring – Showtime and MTV Studios will be combined “into one powerful studio team” with nine separate teams on the network side of things combined into “one portfolio group.” He also touted the success of Paramount+’s streaming slate, including the suite of Taylor Sheridan projects, but that “despite this success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.”

The response? To “reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%.” “This is a tough yet...

One-quarter of the U.S. staff at Chris McCarthy’s Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios/Paramount Media Networks Group has been laid off, IndieWire has learned.

The majority of the layoffs come at the networks end — rather than the studio side — due to the prior larger-scale consolidation: McCarthy’s group previously combined nine networks as part of a reorg. Some units there, mostly in operations, we’re told, are being shut down entirely. One of the casualties will be the long-running MTV News, which has been scaling back for years now.

In a note sent to staffers and obtained by IndieWire, McCarthy said that despite “success” at streaming, the group continues to “feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.” A struggling advertising market and dwindling linear-television subscribers are certainly chief among those.

The greater Paramount Global company is coming off a rough first quarter — the publicly traded...

Layoffs will be hitting 25% of employees across the Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks groups in the U.S. Tuesday, following months of internal deliberations about integration amid Showtime’s rebranding into Paramount+ With Showtime.

Additionally, MTV News — which was significantly affected by layoffs more than five years ago — will be shutting down. Other units, most of which are operations, will be shuttered as well.

In a memo to staff, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president Chris McCarthy said that, despite Paramount’s “success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers,” and that “senior leaders in coordination with Hr have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business.”

“As a result, we have made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce...

The cuts keep coming.

Chris McCarthy’s swath of Paramount Global is laying off 25 percent of its domestic team today. The reduction comes on the heels of integrating Showtime into his cable and streaming purview, which will be consolidated into two functions going forward. There are “studios,” which now combine Showtime with MTV Entertainment Studios, and “networks,” which will merge nine separate teams into one portfolio group. The majority of the cuts are being felt by the latter group, with certain units, including MTV News, being shut down altogether. Paramount Global had 24,500 employees companywide as of the end of 2022.

“This combination has resulted in an incredible track record of hits,” noted McCarthy in a memo to staff, before rattling off successes like Yellowstone, The Challenge, Your Honor, George & Tammy and Yellowjackets. “However, despite this success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers.

Updated with more detail and names: In the latest wave of industry layoffs, the recently combined Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios as well as Paramount Media Networks, overseen by the division’s President and CEO Chris McCarthy, is reducing its domestic team by 25% today. McCarthy addressed the cuts, which he called a “very hard but necessary decision”, in a company memo. (You can read it in full below.)

According to sources, the basic cable networks were most heavily impacted, with a number of units being shut down as part of consolidation, mostly on the operations side.

Also folding is MTV News, the news production division of MTV, which was launched in the late 1980s. The unit already had undergone significant downsizing over the last six years. MTV News staffers took to social media to share the layoff news.

Among the senior-level executives impacted are Jessica Zalkind, SVP, Talent and Series Development,...

More than 60 years after the Soviet Union beat the U.S. into orbit with the launch of its Sputnik satellite, a new space race is heating up between the two rivals. And once again, the Russians are claiming bragging rights with plans to produce the first feature film shot in outer space, ahead of Tom Cruise’s upcoming $200-million space epic.

“The Challenge” is the story of a Russian doctor who’s sent to the International Space Station to save the life of a cosmonaut. If all goes according to plan, the production team will lift off next month on a 12-day mission to pull off the historic first.

A collaboration between Russian space agency Roscosmos, public broadcaster Channel One, and leading studio Yellow, Black and White, “The Challenge” will be directed by Klim Shipenko, whose blockbuster comedy “Son of a Rich” is Russia’s highest-grossing film of all time.