Broadband Interactive Group Lays Off About Half Its Workers

Broadband Interactive Group in Irvine laid off roughly half its employees Monday, becoming the latest in a series of Southern California new-media companies to retrench or retreat.

The layoffs cut across almost all departments of BIG’s extreme-sports brand, Bluetorch, and most deeply into its magazine publishing unit and Web site, a company spokeswoman said.

In all, 64 of about 130 employees lost their jobs.

Bluetorch.com will be scaled back and publication of the magazines--Wave Action, Pit, Wakeboard, MX Rage, Skate and Swerve--will be discontinued, the company said.

BIG’s news comes on the heels of cutbacks at several other multimedia firms that have struggled as their sector crowded up and as online advertising, the sole revenue source for many sites, became harder to come by.

Shockwave.com, an entertainment site with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, recently laid off 15% of its work force. Pop.com, a long-anticipated site backed by a bevy of Hollywood luminaries, announced last week that it had dismissed almost all of its employees and would be shutting down before it ever went up.

BIG, founded in January 1999 and backed principally by the co-founders of Irvine chip maker Broadcom Corp., said it will refocus on its television unit.

Bluetorch films surfing, snowboarding, motocross and other alternative sports events, using the footage for live Webcasts. It also produces extreme-sports shows for Fox Sports Net and is developing other interactive television programming.

“This decision lays out a clear and faster path to profitability for BIG and ensures the highest quality of content across strategic elements of the Bluetorch network,” the company said.