Nonetheless, the company is still growing and will continue to hire people as needed, said two people who had knowledge of its plans but were not authorized to speak publicly.

In a statement Tuesday, ESPN said, “We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs.”

ESPN is expected to cancel “Unite,” a late-night program on ESPNU that started last year.

Four years ago, during the recession, ESPN eliminated 200 positions but shifted many of them to other departments.

Last year, Robert A. Iger and James Rasulo, Disney’s chief executive and chief financial officer, ordered a companywide efficiency review.

Two results include last month’s layoff of 150 people in the studios division and the elimination of several hundred positions in its video game business.

Two weeks ago, Disney announced that its net income for the quarter that ended March 30 had risen 32 percent to $1.5 billion and that the operating income of its cable networks had increased 15 percent because of ESPN.

Still, ESPN’s higher advertising and subscriber revenue was offset by the higher cost of college sports programming.

Earlier this month, ESPN agreed to create and own a new network for the Southeastern Conference. ESPN also extended by 10 years its contract to televise SEC games for more than the $150 million a year it has been paying.

Brooks Barnes contributed reporting.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/sports/espn-is-cutting-300-to-400-jobs.html?partner=rss&emc=rss