During the first quarter of 1998 alone, Telenoticias and fellow CBS Cable-owned channel Eye on People lost a combined $9 million in revenue. In late 1998, CBS sold a 70% interest in the channel to Mexican-based Grupo Medcom, a concern operated by the Serna family; under the deal, CBS continued to provide news content resources through CBS Newspath (CBS also sold its stake in Eye on People to Discovery Communications, which subsequently rebranded the network as Discovery People). Financial problems ultimately trickled into Telenoticias' operations; as a result, CBS Telenoticias stopped producing Jornal do SBT in early 1999 (with SBT continuing to produce the program in-house until it ended in 2016). However, in July 1999, the network's financial problems got even worse; some of the telephones at one of the network's news bureaus were disconnected, employees received salary paychecks later than scheduled, and reimbursements were never paid out. By the end of that month, CBS Telenoticias laid off 77 staffers; several days later, the network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Despite the filing, the network gained affiliations with a few low-power television stations, such as K19BW (now KLEG-CD) in Dallas.
