Mass redundancies at Foxtel and ARN
Foxtel and Australian Radio Network have both announced mass redundancies on the same afternoon, with well over 100 media jobs set to disappear.
ARN, parent company of the Gold and Kiis radio networks, told staff on Wednesday afternoon there would be “a reduction in headcount”, as part of a $40 million cost-cutting exercise announced in late February.
Foxtel Group is making around 100 redundancies just four weeks after the company’s $3.4 billion takeover by global sporting streaming Dazn was finalised.
While job losses were expected at Foxtel, as the companies eventually merge their services, Dazn promised a “seamless transition for employees, partners, and customers.”
It is believed a number of the Foxtel job losses are from the newly formed Hubbl team, which the AFR reported last week was already under review by the new owner. ARN’s redundancies will be primarily from the finance, media services, and technology departments, which will be moved offshore. The number of job losses are ARN will be determined in the coming weeks.
Foxtel Group CEO Patrick Delany announcing Hubbl
ARN’s CEO Ciaran Davis said the decision to lose roles was not taken lightly.
“ARN’s transformation program continues as we reshape our business to invest more deeply in the areas driving our future growth – content creation, cross-platform distribution, and advanced commercial solutions,” Davis said in a statement to media.
“As part of this, we are changing the composition of our team to become leaner and more efficient, which will involve the relocation of some roles and unfortunately, a reduction in headcount.
“This is a difficult decision and has not been taken lightly. We are deeply grateful for the contributions of those impacted and are committed to supporting them through this transition with care, respect, and practical assistance.”
ARN recently moved long-standing chief content officer Duncan Campbell into a consultancy role, while CCO Peter Whitehead recently departed the company. This week, proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services issued a report recommending shareholders vote against executive pay and a bonus for Davis at the company’s annual general meeting next week.
Ciaran Davis
Despite the appearance that Dazn has entered the Foxtel building swinging an axe, a Foxtel Group spokesperson said in a statement that “our transformation is not new,” pointing to a decade-long focus on efficiency, “which has seen us successfully transform our business from being a single product pay TV operator to a modern Australian leader in streaming.”
The statement continues: “As part of the Dazn Group, we now have the opportunity to continue our transformation and take advantage of their global engineering and services. We are also working with Dazn to share our world-class product and technology expertise.
“This week our teams have had the difficult task of speaking with a number of highly skilled and highly valued people that will leave the Foxtel Group. We are grateful to every team member that has helped us grow the business and put us in the position of strength we are in today.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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So ARN give $200m to that vile Kyle then sacked their poor staff trying to survive, disgusting
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It would be immoral to pay the CEO a bonus with mass redundancies being made.
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sounds like first phase of gutting the australian operation and making the european model fit domestically. next stop marketing, operations and cutting sports shows.
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The Foxtel redundancies have been coming through thick and fast across the past 12 months, even prior to the DAZN takeover, to the point where they stopped sending emails about it in case it leaked to media.
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And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves
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