MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. announced today it has temporarily laid off 130 employees in its media division thanks to advertising pullbacks due to the Covid-19 crisis.
The company owns 23 radio stations in Quebec and Ontario, including the popular Rythme FM brand. The cutbacks make up around 20% of the division’s workforce.
“This difficult decision was made in the context of an unprecedented economic crisis that is causing a meltdown of the advertising market which is the source of revenues for our stations,” said a company spokesperson to Cartt.ca.
The crisis has not yet affected the company’s primary businesses, which is broadband and cable TV in Quebec, Ontario and in the U.S. “The impact of the crisis is not comparable,” said the spokesperson. “However, we are also taking several measures in order to mitigate the impact on our broadband operations and to ensure a good level of service for our customers as we provide an essential service. Unfortunately, given the severity of the crisis and the unknown length of it, we cannot exclude potential future temporary layoffs.”
