More Layoffs

The dust that got stirred up with Ted Harbert’s promotion in November to head of the new Comcast Entertainment Group is settling down, with G4 slated to move its offices from West L.A. to E!‘s Wilshire Blvd L.A. offices next week. As expected, the consolidation has resulted in the elimination of some jobs. About 90 employees—less than 6% of employees—were notified in Feb that their jobs would be eliminated. News of the layoffs was slow to leak out as many of the employees were given several months notice and continued working. Some have found jobs within or outside the company. The layoffs impacted E!, Style and G4, but sources say the bulk of them are at G4 and include svp, gen counsel Alan Duke; vp, finance Gil Breakman; and vp, HR Soheila Ataei. Comcast Ent declined to comment on specifics. "We spent several months analyzing the best way to consolidate E!, G4 and Style and key decisions were made regarding the staffing and location of CEG," a spokeswoman said. "The vast majority of employees are staying with the new organization. However, in a small number of instances where job functions were duplicative, we have needed to eliminate positions." G4 COO Dale Hopkins won’t be part of the West Coast programming group but will join Comcast Programming Group pres Jeff Shell‘s team. Details on her new title and responsibilities weren’t known at press time.