ABC News will stick with “GMA3” despite mass layoffs by parent company Disney that gutted its production staff — leading to speculation that the third hour of the flagship morning show could get axed, The Post has learned.
Almin Karamehmedovic, who took over as ABC News president last summer, will address rattled staffers at an all-hands town hall in New York on Tuesday afternoon following the bloodbath by parent company Disney earlier this month.
“ABC News has no intention of doing away with ‘GMA3,’” a source with knowledge of the meeting told The Post.
Karamehmedovic scheduled the town hall last week — just days after dozens of employees from the ABC News division were let go as part of 200 cuts that also targeted Disney Entertainment Networks, the source said.
Among those canned were “GMA3” executive producer Catherine McKenzie.
Simone Swink, the executive producer of top-rated “GMA,” was given the task of overseeing all “GMA”-branded programming across various time slots.
Other significant reshuffling of leadership included the promotion of Seni Tienabeso to Vice President of “ABC News Live.” He will manage certain specialized reporting units for the digital streaming news service.
Further structural changes included the consolidation of long-form content divisions, such as ABC News Studios, “20/20,” “Nightline,” and “Impact x Nightline,” under one leadership umbrella.
Digital and social media operations will also be more closely integrated with news gathering and other editorial teams.
The layoffs extended to ABC News Studios and its digital department, where approximately 30 staffers lost their jobs.
One of the most significant casualties was the data-driven news platform FiveThirtyEight, which had all 15 of its employees laid off.
The FiveThirtyEight team was reportedly informed of their termination during a brief virtual meeting with Karamehmedovic, though they knew that their fate was sealed after reading about it in the Wall Street Journal the previous night, according to the Status newsletter.
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