We always hear about layoffs in production departments, or foreign bureaus, or "a little bit of everywhere," in the case of MTV—but it's rare these days that you get to see an outfit chop up its web staff. But that's what Court TV is doing right this second—with fellow Time Warner company CNN.com going big on plans for CNN.com/crime, Court TV (soon to be called truTV) no longer needs 16 of the staffers at their website. 15 will remain.

Everyone,

Today we're announcing some significant changes that are part of our ongoing migration of Court TV to truTV. Our plans include a revamp of how - and where - entertainment and trial content is used on the Web.

On Jan. 1, 2008, courttv.com will become truTV.com. We will make truTV.com a popular destination, with an abundance of video content and materials exclusive to the Web. Our archive of stories from crimelibrary.com will be available as well.

Online trial coverage will shift to CNN.com from courttvnews.com. CNN plans to launch a new section of its site, CNN.com/crime. This section will replace CNN.com/law, providing a strong destination for crime news, trial coverage and news from the Justice Department. This section will be managed by CNN.com staffers in Atlanta.

These changes will lead to reductions in our online group. Sixteen positions on Court TV's Web staff will be eliminated. Fifteen staffers will continue to work on the new truTV.com. Of course, we'll work closely with colleagues who are directly impacted to provide whatever professional transition assistance we can.
In addition, we are reducing positions in some other areas - six in operations and two in daytime.

I'd like to thank everyone for their contribution to the success of Court TV, courttv.com and courttvnews.com. We are saddened to let people go, but these changes are a necessary part of a larger strategic plan to make our network stronger.

Marc Juris

General Manager, Court TV/truTV