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Rumor has it that City 7 is firing
But the chief operating officer of the channel denies the news.
Nov 17th, 2008 
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According to rumors, a number of employees at the local City 7 TV channel have been fired, and the channel may be shut down. The COO of the channel, Ron Kapadia, however denied the news. “Nobody has been laid off,” he told Kipp. “And at present, nobody is going to be laid off.”
However, when one of our reporters went to the channel office earlier today, he found several people milling around in the reception, looking quite agitated. When asked if the channel was shutting down, one person wearing a City 7 TV shirt said “yes.”
City 7, an English channel that was launched two years ago, is part of the Bin Hendi group. The channel provides content filmed in the UAE as well as international shows. City 7 TV is free-to-air throughout the Middle East and Africa.
But the news is bound to send some shivers. So far, the media in the region has remained unaffected by the global financial crisis, while other sectors like banks and real estate have been forced to make job cuts: Damac fired 200 of its employees, Omniyat bid farewell to almost 60 people, and Emaar is also rumored to have had job cuts. There were also reports that Standard Chartered laid off 80 of its staff, though the bank did not publicly confirm the news.
But all that may change now. Although it’s just a rumor, City 7 could be the first in Dubai to downsize (or shut down), but it may not be the last.
Media companies in the West have already fallen prey to the credit crunch In the UK, Virgin Media fired 2,200 employees last week. Forbes in the US is also following suit; ForbesAutos.com is being shut down and its entire staff is being let go. ForbesTraveler’s staff is also being laid off. CondéNet has also reportedly told staffers that it will start slashing jobs “across the board.” Condé Nast’s Wired is also said to cut jobs.
While the City 7 COO has denied the news, have any other rumors or reports reached your ears? Do let us know.
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The rumours about City 7 are true. The station is going to close and all the staff will be let go.
Not only that, none of the staff there have been paid for last month or this month, and have been told that they are not sure if they will get any wages due to them, let alone any gratuities,holiday payments or severance. This has left most members of the City7 team in thousands on dirhams in debt.
Many of the staff have now missed 2 car and card payments and are in danger of being blacklisted due to not receiving their wages and bouncing cheques for almost 2 months…….It is believed that this is the case for the entire Bin Hendi group!!.
Expect to see alot of people at Tecom and the Labor ministry!
Jo Doe is completely right!
It’s quite a miserable situation for all the staff.
The main reason for the channel shutting down is that the channel was not doing well in terms of money. Just one or two of the shows have had cash sponsorships, the rest were all barter deals. No one wants to sponsor the shows coz the content of the shows were just average. Hence the channel did not have viewership.
If no money is generated how is the channel going to sustain itself. The channel was in the market for all these years because it belonged to the Bin Hendi umbrella.
Well the whole Bin Hendi group is in trouble, not just City 7.
Apparently the whole group is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The sad thing is that because he is refusing to pay all these people, they cannot afford to live. By the time the Labor department/Tecom sort out their wages, many like myself would have had to leave the country as i know if i bounce one more cheque they will block my passport..and i cannot afford to be stuck in this country with no job, and no prospect of getting one.
His actions are going to ruin the lives of hundreds of people
This doesn’t just affect City 7. Pretty much ALL the staff that work for Alpha Properties - another Bin Hendi Group company - have left. Sales, rental and orientation staff weren’t getting paid. Not looking good for the whole group.
City 7 was earlier called IN TV the channel was in trouble from day 1. About 2 years ago it was bought over by the Bin Hendi Group. The channel has seen about 3 CEO’s in the last 3 years the 4th being Ron Kapadia. Under his stewardship the content and channel did improve but rating did not. The channel has a huge staff bill and hence would have never been a viable project. It was just a matter of time. The shutting down has nothing to do with the global melt down. Every one in the company and the market knew the inevitable. It was a matter of time!