In a move expected for several weeks, sports media giant ESPN has begun to lay off workers in an attempt to trim its budget. The company is making the move thanks in large part to escalating sports rights fees and increasingly diminished subscription numbers which have been in steady decline in recent months. ESPN cut over 300 jobs less than two years ago, mostly from behind the scenes jobs.

The official in-house announcement of the cuts was made via an email written by ESPN president John Skipper. The email was obtained and published by John Ourand of Sports Business Daily. In the email, Skipper outlines the reasoning behind the moves.

“We will implement changes in our talent lineup this week. A limited number of other positions will also be affected and a handful of new jobs will be posted to fill various needs.”

“A necessary component of managing change involves constantly evaluating how we best utilize all of our resources, and that sometimes involves difficult decisions. Dynamic change demands an increased focus on versatility and value, and as a result, we have been engaged in the challenging process of determining the talent – anchors, analysts, reporters, writers and those who handle play-by-play – necessary to meet those demands.”

According to Ourand, ESPN is expected to cut around 100 total jobs during this round of layoffs. ESPN is not expected to publicly announce which members of the company are being let go. Among those let go Wednesday by ESPN is longtime NFL reporter Ed Werder. Werder announced the news himself on Twitter.

James Andrew Miller, the author that literally wrote the book on ESPN (ESPN: These Guys Have All the Fun), gave his thoughts on the layoffs Wednesday morning.