ESPN Fires 100 Workers (Update)

Updated from 11:18 a.m. EDT

ESPN fired an even 100 people at its Bristol, Conn., headquarters on Thursday because, according to the sports media outfit, those people weren't doing jobs that "grow" the company enough.

Josh Krulewitz, an ESPN spokesman, told The Associated Press Thursday that the sports network would ultimately keep its head count at present levels (about 5,400) by replacing those 100 jobs with others that "more effectively grow our company."

When asked about the nature of these new jobs in an email exchange Friday, Krulewitz said that the network would likely fill the slots with more ad salespeople and those who are focused on "creating new content." He wasn't more specific.

Thursday's round of layoffs were part of a plan announced back in January by ESPN chieftain George Bodenheimer. The network, owned by Disney(DIS Quote), has also undergone a hiring freeze, an executive-level pay-raise freeze and a top-to-bottom review of operations with the intent of hunting down areas where money could be saved. "The economy is worsening, and ESPN and our business partners -- especially some of our major advertisers -- are feeling the impact more acutely than at any point in our lifetime," Bodenheimer said in January in a speech to ESPN employees.

Layoffs are, of course, as much a part of the media business these days as the three-martini lunch was a generation ago. (A poor tradeoff, to be sure.) Viacom(VIA Quote), CBS(CBS Quote), News Corp.(NWS Quote), Time Warner(TWX Quote) -- you name it, the advertising recession, as it's being called, has bloodied the industry with a high body count.

Of late, however, TV honchos have been going around with word that the ad market has "bottomed out." The latest to do so was Jeff Zucker, chief executive of GE's(GE Quote) NBC Universal, in a speech at a digital media conference hosted by News Corp. outside San Diego on Thursday.