This could be the death knell for cable television as we know it, and as always, jobs are on the line.

It’s no secret that the industry has not been thriving recently; far from it. The rising popularity of streaming services came alongside an avalanche of “cord-cutting” – consumers who no longer subscribe to cable television services.

Last week, Comcast Corporation announced that it would create a new publicly-traded company consisting of several of its cable networks as well as some digital assets. The new company, temporarily dubbed “SpinCo” would be comprised of USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports Engine. Only the Bravo network remains under the NBCU umbrella, which still consists of NBC and all its divisions, and streaming service Peacock.

Unsurprisingly, the mood of the employees of these properties is not good. Variety reports that there’s an air of anxiety among the “rank and file” due to unanswered questions remaining at this stage of the divestiture. CNBC and MSNBC will now be separate companies from NBC and its news division, leaving many wondering how news-gathering is going to work going forward.

There’s also the issue of advertising revenue: the smaller nets won’t have the selling power of their corporate overlords at a time when revenue in general is on a downward trajectory.

According to the Variety article, “there’s dismay over the perception that SpinCo is ‘“’a mishmash of shitty stuff,’ according to an employee interviewed anonymously for the story. The perception is that Comcast is doing this as a way to jettison dead weight, allowing their more prestige entities a chance to soar.

Not everyone is resigned to failure, though. One employee of the spun-off networks is quoted as saying, “[while] there’s a lot we’ll miss [about being part of NBCU], there is excitement about the potential for further investment in our businesses.”

The article says that in the executive suite, the attitude is one of managing a “slowly dying business” at this point, and though Comcast is the first media conglomerate to go this route, they won’t be the last.

SpinCo., or whatever the company is ultimately named, will be headed by Mark Lazarus, who formerly served as chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group. The divestiture is scheduled to be finalized some time next year.