FOX Sports culls 20 staff
20 redundancies but FOX Sports News insists it’s not due to coronavirus.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Subscription, Top Stories
FOX Sports News yesterday announced 20 staff redundancies but insists it’s not due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Head of FOX Sports Peter Campbell said, “This decision is not about the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on sport.
“It simply reflects viewers are consuming sports news in different ways and at different times together with the same challenging conditions in the advertising market that are impacting the entire entertainment industry.
“It is too soon to determine what the long-term effects of the pandemic may be on the industry as a whole and our business.
“I must reiterate FOX Sports News is an incredibly important brand to Foxtel and Kayo providing premium sports video content for our own digital assets including foxsports.com.au and our social media, as well as across the News Corp Masthead websites.”
Some took to social media following the news.
A little personal news. Unfortunately I was informed last Wed that it was my last day at @FOXSportsNews. When i walked into the old Pyrmont studios in ‘09 it was a dream come true for a sports fanatic like myself and I’ve never forgotten that feeling over the next 11yrs.
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) March 18, 2020
After 9 incredible years my time at Fox Sports draws to an end. 5 EPL seasons, 3 World Cups, countless @Socceroos camps, Ashes tours, Cricket World Cup & plenty more. Been the stuff of dreams.
Sad it’s over. Thanks for all the kind words over the years. Meant a lot. We go again.
— Daniel Garb (@DanielGarb) March 18, 2020
So after seven years at News Corp and nearly a year @FOXSportsNews, my time has also come to an end.
Have enjoyed it immensely. Feeling for all my superb colleagues in the same position. Onto the next chapter… #extendedmatleave— Carly Adno (@CarlyAdno226) March 18, 2020
A nice little perspective on being made redundant today from @FOXSportsNews
My 6 yo comes and gives me two $1 coins she found. I say she should put them in her purse but she says she'd prefer if I had them because of what happened today.— Andrew Peake (@PeakeAndrew) March 18, 2020
Sadly my time at Fox Sports News has ended.
Absolutely loved bringing you all the big sporting issues over the past couple of years.
Tough times but let’s all stick together.
Oh – and thanks for putting up with my extreme @TheParraEels bias!— Adam Hawse (@AdamHawse) March 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/mjsummers2103/status/1240167929548685312
So, after 6 incredible years at Fox Sports the dream came to an end today. These are tough times for media, sport and the world in general. Be nice to each other and if you’re looking for a sport reporter hit me up. #funemployment.
— Natalie Yoannidis (@NatYoannidis) March 18, 2020
Not the news you want on your honeymoon & with a global pandemic, but I’ve been let go by Fox Sports News. Been a lot of fun. Feeling for all the great people now out of a job, all much more talented and experienced than I am. Tough time for many, let’s keep spreading the love x
— Josh Money (@joshmoney__) March 18, 2020
Source: West Australian
5 Responses
Really missing Eurosport. There was always something to look at. The Sport options are looking thin now. It was a chance for Optus but with their paltry Sport offerings to charge for Eurosport was dreadful. Like to know how many have signed on. By the way I have Fetch as well being an Optus subscriber.
Obvious that sports is not high on the agenda at Foxtel anymore. Are they coming to terms that streaming is where sport is fully heading?.
But how may NRL/AFL commentators and specialists are there and they all survive?
Not to mention that bastion of bias Sky News
I wonder when they’ll take the axe to Sky News. All those commentators can’t be worth the money.
They are amongst the highest rating shows on the Foxtel platform most nights so can’t see that changing too much. Fox Sports News on the other hand is quite bloated and doesn’t rate so was ripe for being rationalised. Should never have gotten there in the first place though.
Sad for the people who don’t want to be paid out however Foxtel and fox sports are unsustainable with their current cost and revenue models. The NRL coverage is so bloated. 3 or 4 commentators at each game plus 3 or 4 in the studio “hosting” is massive overkill so there would be some cost savings there too.