DATE: Tuesday, August 5, 1997               TAG: 9708050118

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   55 lines

IFE TO LAY OFF SOME IN BEACH BUT NEW OWNER IS CONSIDERING BUILDING A FACILITY IN THE REGION

The new owner of International Family Entertainment plans to shift some of the company's operations from its Virginia Beach headquarters to Los Angeles and lay off some of its 275 employees, an IFE representative said Monday.

``We anticipate that now that control has transferred there will be changes,'' said Charles Martin, an IFE vice president and director of human resources. ``We believe this will become much more of an operations center for The Family Channel.''

IFE President and CEO Tim Robertson broke the news to the company's 275 Virginia Beach employees at a Thursday staff meeting, IFE employees said.

The next day, News Corp.'s Fox Kids Worldwide venture announced it had completed its acquisition of a majority of IFE.

IFE employs 175 people at its corporate headquarters in the Lynnhaven area of Virginia Beach, and another 100 in its support center at CBN on Centerville Turnpike in Virginia Beach.

Employees at corporate headquarters, particularly those working with FiT TV, MTM Entertainment and international ventures, are more likely to lose their jobs or be transferred, Martin said.

Support workers, those with technical jobs related to transmitting signals to satellites for distribution, are more likely to remain in Virginia Beach.

In fact, Martin said Fox Kids would continue to consider building a $15 million operations center on Bonney Road. He said Virginia Beach has taken on some work uplinking shows for Fox and Saban Entertainment.

``It is very possible that operations will expand rather than contract,'' Martin said. ``It may be more of a shift of focus.''

Fox Kids Worldwide and IFE, whose ownership was controlled by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and his son Tim, announced a $1.9 billion merger in June. The agreement called for Fox Kids to pay $35 a share to acquire all outstanding shares of IFE.

IFE employees were told Thursday that while specifics on layoffs and job relocations were not available, Fox Kids would likely file notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988. That act requires that a company considering a large number of layoffs give its employees 60 days' notice.

Corporate headquarters staff at IFE perform functions such as marketing, corporate communications, finance and human resources. Some of the senior-level workers in those departments may be moved to Los Angeles, Martin said.

Generally, though, Martin and corporate communications vice president Diane Linen Powell said that IFE's individual employees have not been told whether their jobs would be eliminated or moved.

``They've been told that there will be some positions that will be moved and if they would like to be considered for a position in L.A. they should tell their supervisor,'' Powell said. ILLUSTRATION: [Family Channel Logo]

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