BET Media Group confirmed Wednesday that it will cut an unspecified number of positions—mostly in linear research, finance and business-legal affairs—as parent Paramount Global trims 3.5 % of its U.S. workforce.
A memo from chief executive Scott Mills said the network is shifting to a “streamlined organization structure” that leans on Paramount’s centralized support functions while keeping programming, marketing and streaming teams intact.
His message arrived two weeks after Paramount’s three co-CEOs warned staff that hundreds of jobs would be shed amid steep linear-TV declines and the need to steer capital toward streaming.
In that earlier note, George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins called the cuts “hard, but necessary,” language Mills echoed in thanking departing colleagues for their “enduring contributions to BET’s legacy.”
The company already eliminated roughly 15 % of its U.S. headcount last year, making this the second major downsizing in 12 months.
Analysts say the belt-tightening reflects a broader reckoning as legacy media pivots from shrinking cable bundles to lower-margin streaming platforms; Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced similar rounds this month.
TrendPulse Finance cautioned that Paramount is betting its “scalpel-not-sledgehammer” reductions will free cash to chase Paramount+ profitability while avoiding talent drain.
Meanwhile, the company is awaiting regulatory approval for an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, a deal executives believe will supply fresh intellectual property for its streaming push.
To raise additional cash, Paramount last summer reopened talks to offload BET after earlier bidders balked at a price near $3 billion, according to industry reports.
Former BET chief executive Debra Lee told Yahoo Finance this week that the brand’s value lies in “authentic Black storytelling” and warned that repeated staff cuts risk “hollowing out” that mission.
Inside Paramount, some employees have already blasted management for rolling back diversity-and-inclusion commitments while laying off colleagues they say were disproportionately from under-represented groups.
For the several hundred BET and Paramount workers receiving notices this week, the immediate concern is less corporate strategy than finding new work in a labor market that has already seen more than 90,000 layoffs across industries in 2025.
Whether the cuts prove corrective or corrosive will become clearer when Paramount reports second-quarter earnings and investors gauge the cost of reinvention.
