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Eyewitness News Sends Buyout Offers to Veteran Staffers
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An email went out on Tuesday morning to veteran employees of Eyewitness News, offering buyouts. That’s part of a downsizing that spans the portfolio of owned and operated CBS stations.
The buyout offer includes two weeks of severance pay for each year of service, up to 64 weeks total. Employees have two weeks to accept the offer, up to June 24th, and will work through July and into August before leaving the company. We’re told about 30 people received the notice in Philadelphia.
This is all part of cost cutting at Paramount Global (CBS News owner), which is merging with Skydance Media. Writes Aimee Picchi at CBSNews.com:
Paramount Global said Tuesday that the entertainment and media company is cutting 3.5% of its workforce, citing challenges in the broader U.S. economy and in the linear television business.
It’s the latest round of layoffs at the media company — which owns the CBS broadcast network as well as cable channels, such as MTV and Nickelodeon — as it prepares to merge with movie studio Skydance Media.
In a memo sent Tuesday morning to employees from the company’s three co-CEOs — George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins — Paramount said the layoffs would affect U.S. workers, with “the majority of impacted staff being notified today.” Some employees outside the U.S. could later be impacted, according to the memo.
Eyewitness News, which rebranded to CBS News Philadelphia* in 2023, has cut costs since the pandemic, just like every big media outlet in America. Almost five years ago to the day, the station laid off about a dozen employees, including Lesley Van Arsdall, Chandler Lutz, Chantee Lans, Cleve Bryan, Crystal Cranmore, and a half-dozen behind-the-scenes folks. Jessica Kartalija was let go in September of 2024 and a scandal in New York saw the shit canning of some corporate suits who said disparaging things about Ukee Washington and Jim Donovan.
*I’ve ordered Crossing Broad staff to only refer to this station as “Eyewitness News.” Anybody who says “CBS News Philadelphia” will be fired.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com