The Walt Disney Corporation has announced plans to lay off 200 employees at its ABC division, according to a Disney executive. This comes at time when the media industry is struggling with declining ad sales.

Disney also plans to free 200 vacant jobs, which will result in an overall 5 percent decrease of the ABC TV group’s staff, which consists of between 6,500 and 7,000.

Last week, the company announced their plans to combine their two ABC divisions: ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios. Disney hopes that the two business units will streamline under one umbrella organization.

“After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we’re now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas,” stated Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney-Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television.

“This was not an easy decision, nor one made lightly. The people affected today are our friends and colleagues, and we are doing all we can for them and their families during what we know will be a difficult transition.”

ESPN, which is also run by Disney, will also cut 200 jobs, according to an executive at the sports cable network.

As of September, Disney employed about 150,000 people.

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