By Tali Arbel, Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Disney's ESPN is cutting about 300 jobs, or 4 percent of its staff, amid signs that the traditional cable bundle is less far-reaching than it once was.
ESPN spokeswoman Amy Phillips confirmed the number of job losses Wednesday.
The sports channel is one of the linchpins of the traditional cable bundle of hundreds of channels, which is under pressure from viewers migrating online. A few are choosing to bypass paying for a cable subscription entirely, opting instead for a growing number of choices of online TV alternatives.
The job cuts are a "necessary part of our continued strategic evolution to ensure ESPN remains the leader in sports as well as the premier sports destination on any platform," said ESPN CEO John Skipper in a memo to employees that was posted online.
Disney in August trimmed its TV profit outlook because of a loss of ESPN subscribers. ESPN gets money from cable and satellite companies that carry its channels, and it's the most expensive of the basic pay TV channels. Data provider SNL Kagan has estimated that ESPN costs cable and satellite TV companies $6.61 per monthly subscriber.
So ESPN comes under pressure as people skip the cable bundle or choose cheaper TV packages with fewer channels.
The company has said that it doesn't expect big declines in traditional TV subscribers over the next few years. But CEO Bob Iger said in August that if the business declines, Disney would consider selling ESPN straight to viewers.
There are already big media brands doing that, like HBO, CBS and Showtime.
For affected ESPN employees: Skipper said they would get a minimum of 60 days' notice, severance packages and job search assistance.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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