The economy is playing havoc with ad-sales departments
across the country and no cable operator seems immune to the chaos.
As part of continued efforts to consolidate and realign its
operations, Charter Communications cut a handful of ad-sales staffers,
including three top-level ad-executive positions, in Birmingham,
Ala., earlier this month.
St. Louis-based Charter is consolidating its ad-sales
management and back-office operations for Alabama,
North Carolina and Tennessee
in the Tennessee offices to
minimize costs and maximize operating efficiency, said spokeswoman Anita
Lamont. As a result, duplicate positions, including some management posts, were
eliminated in Birmingham, she said.
The Birmingham
ad-sales office has about 60 staffers; all the advertising-sales executive
positions remain intact, Lamont said.
"Charter Media is focused on
steering through the current economic environment by managing our resources
effectively, working efficiently and delivering excellent customer service to
our clients," Charter senior vice president marketing and advertising Jim
Heneghan said in response to the query about the layoffs. "Our team continues
to be successful with strong leadership, prudent measurement of our operations,
managing our resources effectively and working efficiently to deliver excellent
customer service to each of our clients.
"Organizational change at this
time is designed to keep Charter Media competitive today -- and tomorrow."
Lamont said the layoffs were
driven by outside economics and had nothing to do with the company's Chapter 11
bankruptcy filing in March.
"This is really a
continuation of our efforts to realign our operations," Lamont said. "Last year,
we concentrated on eliminating redundancy at the divisional level, collapsing
three divisions into two. The moves in Birmingham are just a continuation of
that realignment to make the company more efficient and effective
operationally."
