Warner Bros. Discovery Makes Layoffs Across Cable TV Group

Warner Bros. Discovery, as its cable TV business continues to shrink and viewership falls, has made targeted job cuts across its linear networks.

The media conglomerate’s linear TV business includes TNT, TBS, CNN, Food Network, Discovery, TLC, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. The layoffs affect well under 100 employees, a source familiar with the situation told Variety. The source added that no particular location or network was impacted more than others. The cuts — like those at other pay-TV networks affected by cord-cutting declines — are aimed at WBD’s ongoing goal of operating more efficiently.

For the first quarter of 2025, revenue in the company’s linear TV networks business fell 7%, to $4.7 billion. Warner Bros. Discovery said ad revenue fell 12%, while distribution revenue was off by 9%. The company cited declines in audiences at its networks for the downturns. In Q1, adjusted operating income of the cable TV group fell 15%, to $1.79 billion.

The layoffs in WBD’s cable group come after Disney cuts its headcount by several hundred employees this week, affecting staffers in TV, film and corporate finance.

Last month, S&P Global Ratings cut Warner Bros. Discovery’s credit rating to junk status based on its lowered earnings forecast for 2025-26 primarily due to the “continued revenue and cash flow declines at its linear TV operations,” which the ratings firm said will offset growth in the company’s streaming and studio segments.

In Q1, Warner Bros. Discovery said, it completed the process of reorganizing the company into two divisions: one comprising its streaming business (plus HBO) and production studios, and the other composed of the rest of its cable TV portfolio. The reorg will “create opportunities as we evaluate all avenues to deliver significant shareholder value,” CEO David Zaslav said in originally announcing the separation last December.