Layoffs Hit Sony Pictures TV’s Consolidated International and Home Entertainment Division

By Daniel Holloway

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – A long-expected round of layoffs has come to Sony Pictures Television’s recently consolidated unit covering worldwide channels, home entertainment, and program sales activities under Sony Pictures Entertainment distribution president Keith Le Goy.

The number of affected staffers is not known. But sources tell Variety that the layoff did not affect executives above the senior vice president level.

Sony in June consolidated multiple divisions in international and home entertainment under Le Goy — a move that presaged the elimination of redundancies. International TV networks, TV distribution, and home entertainment previously ran as separate entities under different leaders. In a memo to staff at the time, Sony Pictures TV chairman Mike Hopkins wrote that the intent was to “create a stronger and more agile organization, one that is better able to pivot and capitalize on opportunities in a fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace.” Hopkins also emphasized at the time that Sony TV needs to reorient some of its focus to “align with the realities of today’s marketplace.”

A handful of senior executive posts in international distribution were already eliminated in June. The move to slim down Sony TV’s international ranks was signaled in February when the studio parted ways with the leaders of its networks unit, Andy Kaplan, and home video arm, Man Jit Singh.

A Sony representative declined to comment Wednesday.