The Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network is eliminating five positions as it reduces costs to deal with a six-figure deficit from fiscal 2016, according to CEO Jerry Franklin.
In a memo emailed to CPBN’s staff on Monday, Franklin said the positions include two on the leadership team, one in the music unit, one in operations and one in education. Affected employees worked in human resources, media and information technology and production of local television programming, website content and multimedia.
As part of the downsizing, Sarah DeFilippis, s.v.p. of branding and marketing, will remain on staff but in a reduced role supporting audience growth and revenue goals.
Earlier this month during a meeting of CPBN’s Board of Trustees, Franklin reported that the state network ran up a $300,000 deficit in fiscal 2016, which closed in June.
In his memo to staff, Franklin said the network has also cut expenses in ways that “will not significantly affect our audience’s experiences,” but he didn’t elaborate. CPBN will hold an all-staff meeting in the coming weeks “to discuss our financial plans and the broader recommendations affecting our FY 2017 and 2018 budgets,” Franklin added.
CPBN, a dual licensee with both television and radio networks, expanded its staff under a 2015 restructuring plan that mapped out new content initiatives and business strategies.
An earlier version of this post reported the names of the staff whose jobs were eliminated, information that was included in Franklin’s memo. But, at the request of one of the employees who was laid off, their names have been removed.