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HBO Is Closing Long Island Facility as Part of Reorganization

HBO Is Closing Long Island Facility as Part of Reorganization

(Bloomberg) -- HBO told employees it is shutting down a communications center in Hauppauge, New York, a move that’s expected to impact dozens of jobs on the network’s broadcast technology team, including an unspecified number of layoffs.

Some of the approximately 200 employees will transfer to new facilities in Manhattan from the Long Island location. But HBO is also moving some broadcast operations to Atlanta, leading to unspecified job losses in New York, the network said in a statement Wednesday.

New owner AT&T Inc. is reorganizing its media operations following the $85 billion takeover of Time Warner, now called WarnerMedia. HBO Chief Executive Officer Richard Plepler resigned as part of a corporate shuffle that’s intended to result in significant cost cutting, staff reductions and the streamlining of operations.

For decades, the communications center served as a key hub for HBO’s technical operations, transmitting programming throughout North America.

According to an article from 1985 in Corporate Design & Realty magazine, Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects designed the 60,000-square-foot, “state-of-the-art” center, which includes a lengthy pedestrian bridge hovering over a deep dry moat, “symbolizing the transition between earth and spacebound concerns.”

AT&T is working on a new direct-to-consumer streaming product that is expected to arrive before the end of the year. Many details about how the various WarnerMedia assets will fit into the service are still unclear. But HBO is expected to serve as the backbone of the service. Despite the closing of the facility, AT&T executives have said they are increasing the network’s budget.

To contact the reporter on this story: Felix Gillette in New York at fgillette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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