E! (DStv 124) is changing its weekday E! News done from Los Angeles in the United States from a prime time show to a morning show from 2020 that will be produced from New York, with up to 25 staffers who are getting retrenched.
In a statement, the channel supplied by NBCUniversal International Networks (NBCUIN) and carried on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service in South Africa and across Africa and that has broadcast the day-after's episode of E! News on the channel at 19:00 for many years, announced that E! News will become a 07:00 morning show done from New York.
According to industry reports from the United States, dozens of E! News staff on Los Angeles, some of whom have been with the show for over a decade, started to cry when they were told they're losing their jobs following a meeting on Tuesday.
It's not clear when or if Giuliana Rancic and Jason Kennedy as two main E! News co-anchors doing the show from Los Angeles, will move to New York.
E! News, currently broadcast in more than 160 countries around the globe, will according to E! "evolve into a morning show at 07:00 out of 30 Rock in New York. The series will continue to feature the most talked-about stories in entertainment in a fast-paced, social and entertaining way that's tailored to a young, hyper-connected audience."
"The move to a morning time slot will allow fans to get their pop culture updates first thing in the morning and offer insights on celebrity stories that will unfold throughout the day."
In its statement, E! says it will expand its entertainment news programming with further "new hours of original weekday content" in 2020.
Tammy Filler, the executive vice president & editor-in-chief of E! News who joined E! in May 2019, will lead the channel's linear news expansion, which will include a variety of pop culture commentary formats, an in-home celebrity interview series, a weekly review show, as well as the New York-based E! News morning and daytime news series.
E! says the Nightly Pop series will expand to four nights per week and that the daytime series Daily Pop will continue to be broadcast on weekdays.
"The linear expansion complements E! News' tremendous multi-platform growth as the leading entertainment news source for millennial women," says E!
"The E! News footprint is unparalleled, and our growth continues with this investment in more edgy, comedic, personality-driven linear programming," says Tammy Filler.
"We undoubtedly live in a 24/7 world where entertainment news is just a click away but what our viewers crave is analysis, commentary and point-of-view that goes deeper than a headline. We are leaning into what is uniquely E! and building on our success with a second home in New York and more hours of coverage."
In 2020 E! will add In the Room (working title) as a new series that will take viewers inside celebrity homes for in-depth interviews and conversation around their latest projects, products, passions and more.
Pop of the Morning (working title), similar to the LA-based Daily Pop but done from New York, will feature a panel of personalities delivering irreverent and unfiltered conversations centred around the buzziest entertainment news stories of the day.
BingE! Club (working title) will be a new weekly review series that will discuss what TV shows, movies, music, social sensations, viral videos and more that pop culture fans should be binge-watching.
E! says it is also "developing two additional celebrity and pop culture commentary formats to be broadcast in 2020" but didn't name or describe these shows.
E! says the Nightly Pop series will expand to four nights per week and that the daytime series Daily Pop will continue to be broadcast on weekdays.
"The linear expansion complements E! News' tremendous multi-platform growth as the leading entertainment news source for millennial women," says E!
"The E! News footprint is unparalleled, and our growth continues with this investment in more edgy, comedic, personality-driven linear programming," says Tammy Filler.
"We undoubtedly live in a 24/7 world where entertainment news is just a click away but what our viewers crave is analysis, commentary and point-of-view that goes deeper than a headline. We are leaning into what is uniquely E! and building on our success with a second home in New York and more hours of coverage."
In 2020 E! will add In the Room (working title) as a new series that will take viewers inside celebrity homes for in-depth interviews and conversation around their latest projects, products, passions and more.
Pop of the Morning (working title), similar to the LA-based Daily Pop but done from New York, will feature a panel of personalities delivering irreverent and unfiltered conversations centred around the buzziest entertainment news stories of the day.
BingE! Club (working title) will be a new weekly review series that will discuss what TV shows, movies, music, social sensations, viral videos and more that pop culture fans should be binge-watching.
E! says it is also "developing two additional celebrity and pop culture commentary formats to be broadcast in 2020" but didn't name or describe these shows.
