While much of the U.S. is awash in the colors of fall foliage, Latino-focused English-language cable network Fusion has entered the fall season by handing pink slips to 30 of its fulltime staffers.
In a Sept. 10 staff memo, Fusion CEO Isaac Lee said the network would lay off staffers following an examination of the operations and programming strategy at the Miami-based joint venture between Univision and Disney-ABC Television Group. News of the memo and layoffs first surfaced in published reports in mid-September.
With the restructuring, Fusion in 2016 will focus on three main areas of programming: U.S. presidential election coverage, investigative special reports and “topical comedy” programming. New shows will include 12 new enterprise projects and Traffic, an eight-hour miniseries about black market trading around the world.
Among the canceled shows are Come Here and Say That, the weekly pop-culture show hosted by Alicia Menendez. Menendez will now serve as chief election and immigration correspondent for weekly news show America With Jorge Ramos.
Soccer Gods, a weekday sports show hosted by Simon Carr and Nando Vila, is now available via podcast.
Fusion launched in 2013 as a general-interest network super-serving Latino millennials. However, the network has struggled while its digital home — Fusion.net — has seen traffic leap from 5.8 million visitors in July 2015 to 8.3 million in September, Lee said in the internal memo.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission report filed by Univision earlier this year, the programmer reported $28 million in revenue and $63 million of expenses for Fusion.
