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Rod Hilton

Paramount kept their staff on hand to handle stressful conditions, surely kept lots of folks on-call to ensure the Superbowl could be streamed on their service, had record viewership numbers and then immediately laid off 800 of the people who helped give them that success the next day so that the executive leadership could pocket all the profits without sharing it with the labor force who built it.

Seriously. Eat the rich.

deadline.com/2024/02/paramount

14 February at 1:33 | Open on mastodon.social
54 comments
gudenau

@rodhilton How funny, Paramount+ is buffering like crazy today. (I'm not the one paying for it)

14 February at 1:47 | Open on fosstodon.org
Jfrites

@rodhilton Iโ€™m on a slack group with a bunch of my old coworkers who all now work there and had to follow this in realtime today.

I felt horrible for all of them.

Especially one who had his 1:1 moved to today with his boss, only to find out it was just a coincidence and he wasnโ€™t getting laid off.

14 February at 1:54 | Open on shakedown.social
This is Hell
William
GhostOnTheHalfShell

@rodhilton I guess thatโ€™s the marginal value of their labor.. ๐Ÿ™„

14 February at 2:04 | Open on masto.ai
FediThing ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ

@rodhilton

I'm sure they're so happy to hear this from their wealthy bosses as they face unemployment:

โ€œYour talents have helped us advance our mission of unleashing the power of content around the world.โ€

14 February at 2:06 | Open on social.chinwag.org
Bruce Mirken

@rodhilton I dont think the rich would taste good. Can we burn them for fuel instead?

14 February at 2:07 | Open on mas.to
sandywb14
AlgoCompSynth by znmeb

@rodhilton The damn servers fell over too. Hundreds of people including me got repeated crashes with "error 3002". Those workers need a union!!

14 February at 2:36 | Open on ravenation.club
Will

@rodhilton Capitalism, pesonified. Profits over people. In a just world, every one of those execs would be facing an economic crimes tribunal for this.

14 February at 2:47 | Open on mastodon.social
BardMoss the Linux Guy

@rodhilton
Well they didn't do it that well. Over 40 times I had to refresh my browser or completely close it and reopen it, and many of those times it would only return me to CBS News even though I clearly selected the Super Bowl. Even so, the workers, not the management, should be paid.

14 February at 2:48 | Open on hostux.social
Jeff Shaffer CBET, ret

@zaivala @rodhilton
I had signed up for a free week days ago, and have found the Paramont plus app glitchy and video quality poor. Instead of laying workers off, they should be hiring some to improve the quality. I want some of their shows, but if this is how the product gets delivered, I canโ€™t justify the cost.
Cutting labor to enhance the financial metrics isnโ€™t going to fool any buyer into paying for crap. My bet is that in three years thereโ€™ll be no Paramont Plus and the content will be sold off in bankruptcy

14 February at 6:16 | Open on sfba.social
floydgump

@rodhilton These greed gremlins continue to one up themselves.

14 February at 3:16 | Open on mastodon.social
A January Sponge

@rodhilton I'm just going to reply with this to all layoffs in future. My post from yesterday.

kind.social/@retrosponge/11192

14 February at 3:26 | Open on kind.social
Matt Palmer

@retrosponge @rodhilton speaking of the French, I believe one of them came up with the phrase "pour encourager les autres".

14 February at 4:12 | Open on infosec.exchange
DELETED

@rodhilton They call that โ€œresourcing flexibilityโ€.

14 February at 3:28 | Open on mastodon.au
Jennifer White

@rodhilton That's awful! These greedy companies that make millions but don't care about their staff that is making it possible. Then they raise the fees to make even more while many a starving & struggling to make ends meet. Did a trial once of Paramount & it buffered all the time. Ridiculous. So we didn't subscribe.

14 February at 3:29 | Open on mastodon.social
AJ Young ๐ŸŽฅ ๐Ÿ“ฝ๏ธ

@rodhilton That's an awful lot of conjecture to say that the people who worked on the Super Bowl were then laid off the next day. Any sources?

My wife was laid off at Hasbro in 2020 and it was ultimately part of a consolidation strategy by the company. Seems like the case with Paramount.

Before you jump on me, I'm a union DP who is staunchly pro-union, BUT I'm fully against misinformation.

14 February at 3:31 | Open on bbq.snoot.com
Rod Hilton

@ajyoung you're missing the point.

Everyone who worked at that company 2 days ago was supporting Paramounts goals, which included Paramount+, the Superbowl, etc. Everyone played a role.

And I promise you that lots of people were on-call and it was an all-hands-on-deck situation heading into the biggest broadcast of the year, and none of the people who were working that hard knew that layoffs were coming within days of it happening.

RECORD viewer numbers the day before 800 layoffs.

14 February at 3:37 | Open on mastodon.social
AJ Young ๐ŸŽฅ ๐Ÿ“ฝ๏ธ

@rodhilton Replying to myself since I can't continue this conversation publicly because @rodhilton blocked me:

Where are your sources? Who was part of the full staff on call for the Super Bowl that was laid off?

Work force reduction is common. It's not a matter of the rich pocketing profits because lay offs don't happen at profitable companies. Legacy media companies like Paramount and WB aren't profitable.

You should be upset with the lack of social safety net for those laid off.

14 February at 3:52 | Open on bbq.snoot.com
canleaf08 โŒ˜ โœ…

@ajyoung @rodhilton It is too common to have people laid off after "a good year" right now. It is not normal.

14 February at 6:32 | Open on mastodon.social
DELETED

@ajyoung @rodhilton lmao "layoffs don't happen at profitable companies" might be the funniest thing I've read this week. Do you believe yourself or are you just hoping the rest of us are sniffing billionaire farts too and won't notice?

14 February at 7:08 | Open on mastodon.scot
Roger Sen

@ajyoung @rodhilton thanks for the follow up AJ. I was unsure if I should block Rod because of what he implied in this toot did not match the article.

But knowing he blocked you, Iโ€™ll block him.

14 February at 8:04 | Open on mastodon.social
Felichs

@ajyoung @rodhilton

"...because @rodhilton blocked me..."

A good idea is a good idea

14 February at 9:41 | Open on mastodon.social
zannesan

@rodhilton this continual narrative is so depressing. Same story everywhere. Record profits yet still not enough to keep yโ€™all fed.

14 February at 3:35 | Open on mastodon.social
irizoris@hcommons.social

@rodhilton That happened with Gannett, days after Barack Obama's election in 2008. Layoffs. Metoo.

14 February at 3:43 | Open on hcommons.social
Boyd Stephen Smith Jr.

@rodhilton Let's just try it. Eat one billionaire. Lets see if that shifts their political will / financial programs. It's just providing *incentive*!

;)

14 February at 3:44 | Open on hachyderm.io
Mother Bones

@rodhilton Absolutely disgusting Capitalist treatment ๐Ÿ˜ค

14 February at 3:56 | Open on mstdn.social
GeePawHill

@rodhilton To quote notawolf, (paraphrase from memory):

"You'll never be a billionaire.

But it's not too late to find out what one tastes like."

14 February at 3:58 | Open on mastodon.social
Perspective

@rodhilton

#megaCorporations have no soul, no conscience and are the scourge of the earth.

They would have the last tree cut down to use as fuel to cook the last meal so they could sell it for buck.

When did the Dollar become Almighty at the expense of our brothers, sisters and the plants and animals?

#climate #crisis #humanity

14 February at 4:04 | Open on c.im
ClickyMcTicker

@rodhilton Where in the article did it say the first few points of your argument? I didnโ€™t see anything about them keeping people on call.

14 February at 4:18 | Open on hachyderm.io
Rod Hilton

@ClickyMcTicker it doesn't need to say it, they're trying to get Paramount plus to be successful and this is the first year the Super Bowl was streaming on it. I 100% guarantee you that tons of people were on call and there were multiple preparedness meetings and anticipation of the event. I've been in this industry long enough that I know exactly how the weeks prior to the Super Bowl looked at the Paramount office

14 February at 5:29 | Open on mastodon.social
cthululemon

@rodhilton โ€œunleashing the power of contentโ€? This has to be one of the crappiest, most reductive ways to say art, acting, writing, sports, etc, possible in todayโ€™s โ€˜Englishโ€™. What a miserable brood of spiritually bankrupt conmen.

14 February at 4:21 | Open on donkey.social
That Girl Over There

@rodhilton I had free Paramount + a year ago through some deal and never used it bc the janky pos never worked. They have no integrity.
Also, this is one reason why techies need to unionize.

14 February at 4:32 | Open on mastodon.online
Reggie Huizinga :35mmil1:

@rodhilton I'm very glad that I didn't watch a single minute. I will not be renewing my paramount subscription.

14 February at 4:34 | Open on mastodon.art
Winter Trabex

@rodhilton

Crap like this is why I will never work for a large corporation again. Jeez, I hope they all go on strike during the next big sportsbowl event.

14 February at 5:01 | Open on newsie.social
Aaron King

@rodhilton and I was holding off cancelling until after Halo and Star Trek Discovery. Maybe I just go now since it will probably buffer anyway.

14 February at 5:29 | Open on fosstodon.org
CoastalCoasting

@rodhilton

If it's any consolation, P+ bumped me out of the superbowl a handful of times, and I didn't like them anyways for the commercials, so I cancelled today.
Figured, if they can't do a good job with all those employees, it's sure to be worse without them.
I think I would've stayed despite the superbowl antics, but seeing their greed and disregard for performance sealed the deal.

14 February at 5:33 | Open on universeodon.com
Incognitim

@rodhilton
"As we shared at Bob Live in January, returning our company to earnings growth is a top priority in 2024.

This will require us to continue to grow revenue, while reducing costs. And unfortunately..."
tenor.com/byGfk.gif

14 February at 5:55 | Open on mastodon.social
Jake Harrison
lachlan but spooky

@rodhilton Perpetual requirements for quarter on quarter growth is a hateful damaging folly

14 February at 6:55 | Open on mastodon.social
tarafied
Nina Chin

@rodhilton this is pretty insane. So many brand reputations getting trashed.

14 February at 7:49 | Open on mastodon.social
Benjohn

@rodhilton I've become more fond of "Eat the rich".

I used to think "Eat them? There's barely anything on them!"

The resources the rich capture aren't available to all. If we ate them, the resources would be shared about, which would be an improvement and more than a single meal for many.

But the real harm of the rich is they make the decisions. A tiny part of their wealth gives them enormous power that restructures society around maintaining their power.

And the decisions they make stink. They're just awful for everyone else: the other 99.999% of people.

And this why we should eat them (metaphorically, or otherwise). Not because it'll be a good or hearty meal. But because it will stop our other food sources being destroyed and perverted.

@rodhilton I've become more fond of "Eat the rich".

I used to think "Eat them? There's barely anything on them!"

The resources the rich capture aren't available to all. If we ate them, the resources would be shared about, which would be an improvement and more than a single meal for many.

But the real harm of the rich is they make the decisions. A tiny part of their wealth gives them enormous power that restructures society around maintaining their power.

14 February at 8:27 | Open on todon.nl
Northants Greens
snag ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ
DELETED

@rodhilton "the full power of paramount" well, the full power YESTERDAY, you mean. Now you're a bit below that power, I'd say. And when you fuck over your own people like that, the customers take note.

14 February at 9:54 | Open on mindly.social
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