Toronto-based Corus Entertainment, which is owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, has restructured its broadcast operations and post-production departments to ‘eliminate duplication,’ according to a statement released yesterday.

The television division’s interactive team is now part of Nelvana Studios. Last fall, Corus split its storied cartoon house into Nelvana Studios, which focuses on digital animation, and Nelvana Enterprises, which handles international sales; 83 full-time jobs were also eliminated and offices shut down in Edmonton, the UK and Los Angeles.

A few new marketing positions also appear to have been created in television sales, including a ‘platform innovation team’ and the position of ‘VP, nonlinear business development.’

As part of this round of changes, Corus is merging the responsibility for acquisitions and original productions at Movie Central and Corus Kids, made up of the cable channels YTV, Treehouse and Discovery Kids. Cable and satellite client marketing will now be handled by the consumer marketing team.

Corus controls TV outlets including YTV, Treehouse, W Network, Movie Central and Nelvana, and radio stations such as CKNW, CKOI and Q107. In April, the company posted net earnings of approximately US$19.4 million, or US$0.45 a share, compared with a loss of US$65.7 million (US$1.54 a share) a year earlier, when the company had a pre-tax debt refinancing loss of US$132 million.

Corus’ IT department has also been reorganized to prepare for the move of the company’s Toronto-based employees to a new broadcast facility in 2009/10.

From Playback Daily