Back9Network will cut its full-time workforce by 35 positions, leaving some 50 people on its payroll.
In a Monday report on the payroll cuts, Hartford Business Journal quoted a statement from company CEO Charles Cox, calling the move "a thoughtful strategy that will allow the network to remain competitive and produce engaging content while growing the golf lifestyle."
This follows a Golf News Net report on that the network missed payroll for non-hourly employees on Jan. 9, which the network paid a week later. Back9 claimed it had a cash flow issue related to delayed payments from satellite provider DirecTV, who the company is paying $7 million per year to air its programming, for their share of advertising that ran on the channel.
Back9 also filed a lawsuit in December 2014 against co-founder and former CEO Jamie Bosworth, claiming Bosworth broke non-disparagement and proprietary information disclosure clauses in his agreement last July to resign as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The layoffs could lead to additional problems for Back9 -- this time, with the Conn. state government, which has provided Back9 with some $5 million in loans and guarantees. That funding was contingent on Back9 hiring and maintaining 50 employees on its payroll through the end of 2014. Its unclear if the firings violation those rules set forth by the state's Department of Economic and Community Development, which awarded the funding to Back9.
