Lionsgate Undergoes Layoffs In Alternative TV Unit

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate Alternative Television is the latest business to be hit with layoffs. The unscripted TV arm of the studio, which is behind series such as Discovery’s Naked and Afraid and Dirty Jobs, has begun a round of redundancies today.

Deadline understands that around 5% of the division’s employees are impacted. The unit employs around 100 people. It is believed to be the result of the continued integration of eOne and Lionsgate, following the $375M deal closed twelve months ago, as well as the general belt-tightening that is happening around the industry.

It comes two weeks after Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer admitted that its unscripted business was “feeling the effects of a continuing market correction.” Speaking to analysts after its financial quarter, Feltheimer said that its television business was “doing everything you would expect us to do” including “reducing costs” and “consolidating smaller labels to create greater efficiencies in our unscripted business”.

Lionsgate Alternative Television, which is run by Craig Piligian, was founded earlier this year, bringing together eOne’s unscripted assets together with its own non-fiction division.