"We're Not Dead": Cartoon Network Issues PSA to Fans After Reports of Job Cuts

(SPOT.ph) Cartoon Network has addressed concerns online that job cuts over at its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, might spell the end of the beloved channel as fans know it.

"Y'all we're not dead, we're just turning 30," Cartoon Network said on its official Twitter account on October 15. U.S. trade publications have reported that the merger between Warner Media and Discovery Networks led to job cuts and a streamlining of animation operations into a single unit, which means Cartoon Network Studios will have to work with Warner's animation arm.

"To our fans: We're not going anywhere. We have been and will always be your home for beloved, innovative cartoons. More to come soon," it said.

Also read:
The DOT's Newest Ad Features Your Favorite Powerpuff Girls
We Bare Bears The Movie Is Coming to Make 2020 More Bearable 

Cartoon Network turns 30 this year

Cartoon Network exploded onto the Cable TV scene in the early 1990s and helped raise the corporate millennials of today with originals like Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. It also served as the new home of classics like Bugs Bunny, The Flinstones and Scooby Doo.

It's homegrown animators, however, stood out for testing the boundaries of weirdness for a channel marketed towards children and kids at heart. Remember Cow and Chicken, the poultry and bovine bro-sis tandem who had human parents that were never shown from the waist up? Their tormentor was a red, gender-bending devil.

What's happening at Warner Bros Discovery?

The merger between Warner Media and Discovery brings together the HBO ecosystem, Discovery Networks, Food Network, CNN, DC Films, TNT and Cartoon Network. The resulting entity, Warner Bros Discovery, now has more muscle to compete against its media and streaming rivals such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

The Verge reports that the restructuring under the hood could leave Cartoon Network as a "shadow" of its former self. Earlier in October, the network halved orders for Craig of the Creek and its spinoff, Jessica's Big Little World, according to the report.

The marriage between Warner Media and Discovery, completed earlier this year, will result in a "streamlined structure in which the development and main production teams will now work across both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios", Vulture quoted a company memo.

"Streamline" in corporate-speak means people can get reassigned, or worse, get the boot. It can also mean changes in reporting lines. Warner TV Group chairman Channing Dungey was quoted in a memo as saying that 82 people will be laid off while 43 vacancies will not be filled. That's equivalent to 26% of that arm's workforce.