Misery Index

As part of the cost-cutting measures, ABC News will be canceling all of its magazine and newspaper subscriptions, will not be throwing any holiday parties, and will be scaling back on travel accommodations for executives.

The Media Networks Group includes ESPN, Disney-ABC Television Group, Disney Channel, ABC TV, ABC Family, ABC Studios, Disney ABC Domestic TV, and Radio Disney.

Here's the e-mail:

"We report every day on the economic climate and the effects being felt throughout the country.  We are not immune from the downturn.  At the same time, the importance of the election and economic stories reminds us how much we have to do to help our audience absorb and understand what is going on around them.  What we need to do - and will do - is to make sure that we have all the resources we need to cover the news.

To that end, we (together with the rest of the Media Networks Group) are adopting the following, new guidelines to reduce some of our administrative costs.

1. All executives are asked to fly one grade below what they're entitled to.  Some have contractual provisions on air travel, and the company is not breaching any contracts.  But we are being asked to use our discretion on this.
2. [Missing]
3. All executives are asked to stay in "B" level hotels.  I'm told that Travel knows what this means.
4. Starting immediately, the only business meals for which we will be reimbursed are those with third parties.  Any meals (or drinks) with ABC or Disney employees will not be reimbursed.
5. All non-production (i.e. administrative) travel must be pre-approved by the CFO (in our case, Jim Hedges) in writing.  Your finance and operations people can help you with this.
6. As of December 1, we will cancel all subscriptions (newspaper and magazine) for executives and production employees and more them to on-line.  This change will have the added benefit of helping the environment.  If there are particular circumstances where you believe this will materially impair your ability to get your work done, you should make your case to yore executive producer or supervisor by November 15th.  Dave Davis, Kate O'Brian, and Paul Slavin will review these requests and submit recommendations to me.
7. We're asked to keep any convention or conference attendance to an absolute minimum.  Anyone who attends things like NAB or RTNDA, we need to have a conversation.  If someone needs to attend, it will be a skeleton crew.
8. We'll forego all holiday parties this year.  This means that the company parties in LA, NY and DC are canceled.

Thanks again for your understanding and cooperation.  I won't pretend that this won't be difficult.  But, I truly believe that there is a way for us to do this together that will result in a stronger ABC News.

Additionally, in an internal memo titled "new wardrobe guidelines" according to MSNBC [Define irony.  NBC reporting on ABC.], budget cuts are taking place at some of ABC's biggest primetime shows.  That memo outlines the "maximum allowable spend" for categories of clothing for each character.

No more than $150 may be spent on men's or women's accessories; no more than $250 on a pair of women's shoes (only $200 for men's shoes).  Handbags should cap out at $300 and men's suits at $1,500.  Note however, there is no "guideline" for women's wardrobe.

A representative for ABC, Charissa Gilmore, says that the memo is nothing more than a guide.  "Probably everyone is looking at costs," says Gilmore, "and there are guidelines for every single department."  Gilmore also states that the cost allotted are just suggestions.  "All of our people can go over.  If someone argues that we need red-soled (Christian Louboutin) shoes to show that Lucy Liu is the power attorney (on 'Dirty Sexy Money'), then she's going to get them.  It's about making smart decisions.