Key Points
- Court TV has scaled back some live broadcasts and halted YouTube streams ahead of its sale from Scripps to Jellysmack, with nearly five dozen jobs set to be eliminated.
- Jellysmack and Law&Crime executives insist Court TV will remain a distinct brand and continue live trial coverage after the mid-March transition.
- Internal communications show taped programming replacing a prime-time live show, contradicting public assurances that live output remains unchanged.
The E. W. Scripps Company is winding down some of Court TV’s live broadcasts and web streams before the network and related assets are acquired by Law&Crime owner Jellysmack.
The programming changes are tied to ongoing restructuring efforts and planned job losses at Court TV, where numerous employees were warned that their positions will be eliminated in the next few weeks, according to three sources who spoke with The Desk this week.
Executives from Jellysmack disputed a report published Tuesday that Court TV’s linear network was winding down as a result of the sale, pointing to earlier comments that promised Court TV would remain a distinct brand under common ownership with Law&Crime.
In a phone interview early Wednesday afternoon, Law&Crime President Rachel Stockman said the company was committed to producing live trial coverage and related programming for Court TV as it had under Scripps ownership, something reiterated by Law&Crime founder Dan Abrams and a publicist for the network later in the day.
But Court TV has already started to pull back on its live coverage of legal events, according to current employees and internal communications reviewed by The Desk.
In a note sent to employees on Wednesday, Court TV’s Prime-Time Executive Producer Robynn Love said “taped programming” will take over the 7 p.m. time slot that once occupied a live show called “Court of Opinion.” A review of TV listings for some Court TV affiliates show the network will air “Someone They Knew” in its place.
Court TV also stopped producing live streams for its YouTube channel, according to several employees. The most-recent live stream produced on Court TV’s YouTube account occurred Monday, when the network covered a murder trial in New Jersey. After that webcast ended, Court TV’s Senior Social Media Editor Suzanne Stonefield told other employees that the network was no longer producing live streams, according to internal communications reviewed by The Desk.
Stonefield is one of several workers who received a layoff notice this week, according to two sources. Other employees who are leaving the network include Director of Network Operations Kerry O’Connor, Executive Producer Eric Goldson, Assignment Editor Janet McGowan and Associate Producer Zach Irwin.
Those employees are among nearly five dozen whose positions will be eliminated at Scripps once Jellysmack closes on its acquisition of Court TV, which is expected in mid-March. A few employees will move over to Jellysmack as part of the transition, Stockman said by phone on Wednesday, without providing a firm number.
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Employees who received layoff warnings on Monday were initially told by Scripps management that Jellysmack intended to shut down Court TV’s linear network and revamp the brand into a digital-only offering, as first reported by The Desk.
A Scripps spokesperson deferred inquiries to Jellysmack. Hours after the report was published, Stockman said Court TV was not shutting down, and that a mid-March date communicated to Scripps employees was when Law&Crime expects to take over operations of the channel.
Court TV is already transitioning some of its operations from Atlanta, where Scripps maintains a TV production facility, to New York City. As part of the acquisition, Scripps-owned TV stations will continue to offer Court TV on a digital broadcast channel for at least three years, Stockman affirmed.
Stockman promised that Court TV would maintain its live broadcasts for the foreseeable future, something that was contradicted by the internal communications reviewed by The Desk and the winding down of certain live programs.
When asked for comment on the ending of the YouTube feeds and the closure of a prime-time show, Jellysmack spokesperson Emerson Taylor said “Court TV live trial programming and YouTube live trials will both continue.” After noting that Court TV had already ended some YouTube streams and a prime-time show, a second spokesperson, Sasha Bull, reiterated that “the live streams are continuing, the network is continuing.”
“It depends on what trials are happening, and we are dealing with a significant transition,” Bull wrote by e-mail, adding: “If you watch for a few days, rather than someone trying to play gotcha, you will see that the Court TV YouTube is alive and well.”
