Yes.
Philadelphia TV station WB17 is laying off its entire 30-person news staff and will subcontract the news operation to another station beginning in December.
WB17, also known as WPHL-TV, will retain 60 jobs not related to its news organization. The news crew layoffs will take effect Dec. 9.
The station, owned by Tribune Co. of Chicago, will carry news from a team at NBC affiliate WCAU-TV10. The broadcast will come from a studio at WCAU.
''It was economic,'' said Vince Giannini, general manager of WB17. ''We had tried for a number of years to compete in the marketplace. It's difficult to compete here.''
WB17's broadcast, News at Ten in Philadelphia, averages a 2 rating, meaning fewer than 60,000 homes watch. Philadelphia is the fourth-largest television market in the United States.
Another Tribune TV station, KSWB-TV in San Diego, similarly said it would lay off its 31-member news staff and outsource the news operation to an NBC station. Gary Weitman, a Tribune spokesman, confirmed that people lost jobs but referred questions to the station managers. ''I wouldn't read anything into it,'' Weitman said.
Displaced staffers have been invited to apply for jobs at the NBC stations and be part of the new 30-minute news shows. Among them from the Philadelphia team are news anchors Mary Stoker Smith, hired in April; Scott Engler, who arrived in 2003, and Jim Sinkovitz, a 10-year veteran from Harrisburg.
