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Q Television Future in Jeopardy?
Fledgling TV network temporarily shuts down production amid layoffs and rumors
02.07.06

By Ross von Metzke

(Burbank, CA) – Q Television Network, one of three gay cable channels currently available across the United States, shut down production temporarily last week amid rumors of difficulty making payroll and accounting scandals, among other things.
Out.com reported Monday that Q Television shut down production for about two weeks, letting go all 1099 contractors (those not under contract) as the network undergoes a brief restructuring.

According to Out.com, the network, which features all original programming with openly gay talent including Steve Kmetko, Reichen Lehmkuhl, and Sandra Bernhard, is still paying salaried employees.

But according to an industry source, who asked to remain unidentified, last week’s layoff have been in the pipeline for weeks, with rumored bounced paychecks and accounting glitches going on behind the scenes.

Honey Labrador, who co-hosts and produces Q’s morning show Brunch and will be the anchor for the network’s coverage of the Gay Games this summer in Chicago, says the rumblings are simply not true.

“We are completely committed to what it is Q Television does and this is provide original, live programming,” Labrador told Out.com. “So we are taking until the 13th of February to concentrate on our live programming. Some of it is retooling some of the shows as well as preparing ourselves for the unprecedented live coverage of the Gay Games.”

Q owns the exclusive broadcast, radio, and internet rights to the Games.

Another source, who works at the network and asked to remain unidentified, said 1099 employees were told they were being let go as part of a restructuring and an attempt to take the programming in a “different direction.”

But last week, some of those workers were being called back into Q Television’s offices to negotiate restructured contracts.

Q’s Executive Vice President of Network Operations, Carol Hinnant, told Out.com that while the 1099 workers have been released, when production starts again on the 13th she expects them all to be rehired.

“We’re hoping they’ll all come back, but some of them may have taken other jobs by then,” she notes. “But we can’t afford to pay 1099 employees while we’re in this planning session.”

Without the backing of a major corporation (Logo is backed by Viacom and here! TV is linked up with film distributor Regent Releasing, Q Television had emerged as the only of the gay networks to produce 100-percent original programming.

Though the network has struggled for increased distribution, Hinnant told Out.com effective this week, Q is in more homes than ever, with parts of Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia recently adding the network to their available coverage.

“Everything is up and running,” she says. “We prerecorded sessions that we’re running this week. But we are a small staff with a large commitment coming up with the Games. It’s not easy being a stand-alone, start-up network, but I have confidence in what we’re doing.”




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