A month after suffering a bunch of major layoffs and departuresthe ill-fated attempt to reboot the gaming channel of the 2000s G4 TV is over, and its owners announce that they will shut down the network.
As meeting reports, an email was sent to the remaining employees today by David Scott, the CEO of parent company Spectator, a division of Comcast. In that memo, Scott “explained that the company’s investments and efforts to revitalize the network simply haven’t picked up steam.”
Deadline also says “a few dozen employees and contract workers are affected by the shutdown.” That was all that came after one round of “major layoffs” took place last month:
The timing and severity of the cuts surprised staff, as today talent showed up on set willing to film, only to have programming canceled as staff representatives met with staff individually. Although the extent of the layoffs isn’t clear, a source said those affected were told they would receive between 16 weeks and six months of severance pay based on their tenure at Comcast, G4’s parent company.
Despite assurances on a later show that “there were no plans to reduce the station’s programming,” Xplay Host Indiana “Froskurinn” Black and Attack of the show! Co-host Kevin Pereira left shortly after.
“It’s been in motion for a long time,” Pereira said of his departure. “I know there’s been some crazy happenings in the ether lately, but months and months and months ago that time was sort of decided. The show goes dark for two weeks and is coming back. I won’t be here We’re sorry.”
Scott’s full email, received from meetingreads:
Team:
As you know, G4 was reintroduced last year to capitalize on the popularity of games. We invested to create the new G4 as an online and TV destination for fans to be entertained, inspired and connected to game content.
We’ve been working hard over the past few months to generate this interest in G4, but viewership has been low and the network has not achieved sustainable financial results. This is certainly not what we were hoping for and as such we have made the very difficult decision to cease operations of G4 effective immediately.
I know this is disappointing news and I am disappointed too. I would like to thank you and everyone on the G4 team for your hard work and dedication to the network. Our human resources team will reach out to assist you, discuss other possible options and answer any questions you may have.
Thank you again for all your hard work for G4.
sincerely,
David Scott
Chairman and CEO
Comcast Spectacor
The memo, unsurprisingly, could have been handled better given its timing (sent on a Sunday evening):
TO UPDATE: The Washington Post Nathan Grayson says the termination was so sudden that “former G4 employees who requested anonymity because they signed non-disclosure agreements told The Post that employees were barred from internal communications services like Slack and Google Drive without immediate explanation.”
