As part of the restructuring plan Sprint unveiled in January, the carrier intends to get rid of 8,000 jobs by the end of the month. According to mocoNews, this massive layoff will include about 40% of Sprint's content group, some 500 employees. The mocoNews report says that all areas within the company will see some cuts when the layoffs occur, with the possible exception of customer-facing jobs.

Although it's the third-largest mobile carrier in the US behind AT&T and Verizon, Sprint has historically been ahead of the competition when it comes to content. It was the first to market with a music download service and the first with mobile TV. Sprint also has the exclusive rights to NFL content, including the rights to broadcast regular season football games that appear on the NFL Network. There's also the long-standing Nextel connection with Nascar.

The cellco lost more than 1.2 million customers last year, which leaves a lot fewer consumers to buy the content. For Sprint's sake, here's hoping that its exclusive deal for the Palm Pre starts heading it towards a turnaround.