The 6pm TV3 news has been saved – but it will have a totally new look and will be provided by rival media company Stuff once Newshub closes in early July.
Warner Bros Discovery says it signed a deal with Stuff yesterday “to produce and provide us with a 6pm bulletin”, WBD staff were told by New Zealand boss Glen Kyne today.
Stuff will provide an hour-long weekday bulletin and a 30-minute bulletin on Saturdays and Sundays. The deal starts from Saturday, July 6 – the day after Newshub shuts for good.
The Newshub website, which generates a unique audience of more than one million people each month, would transfer to Stuff, Kyne said.
At the same time as Kyne was making his announcement, Stuff owner Sinead Boucher told her staff that the new news service would not be called Newshub. A new name had not been selected.
Stuff will apparently use Three’s existing Flower St studio in Auckland for the bulletin, before setting up its own facilities.
Kyne told his staff – up to 300 of whom are losing their jobs – that Stuff had a large newsgathering force and could add specialist skills and talent. He confirmed the Stuff bid had been weighed up with others – that is understood to include NZ Herald owner NZME.
He said Stuff would hire a “limited” number of roles and was seeking expressions of interest.
Staff at Stuff and Newshub were called to simultaneous meetings at 10.30am, where the deal between the two rival companies was announced. Newshub staff were told it was an “important business update”.
Stuff won the competitive pitch to provide the 6pm news bulletin to Warner Bros Discovery following the announcement last week that WBD’s Newshub news division would close in early July, with the loss of almost 300 jobs.
The deal offers considerable opportunity but also risk for Stuff, which has no traditional live-broadcast history.
The nature and details of the new-look 6pm bulletin will be worked out over coming weeks – Stuff is expected to hire a number of Newshub journalists but nowhere near the numbers being laid off.
Under the new deal, Warner Bros Discovery will likely pay Stuff an annual fee – in the low millions of dollars – to provide the 6pm-7pm news bulletin.
To make it work, Stuff will need to bring in a decent amount of broadcasting and production expertise – including some of the outgoing Newshub talent and perhaps help from the likes of Sky – to meet viewer and advertising expectations.
Then it’s a matter of making it work from a cost/margin perspective – it is unlikely to be a hugely profitable venture.
It is understood NZME – owner of the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB – also pitched for the news service. With more experience in live broadcast, it may have seen itself as a frontrunner but also realistic about the price.
Media Insider has reached out to Boucher and chief executive Laura Maxwell for comment.
As we revealed last week, Stuff was a leading contender to provide the news lifeline in the form of a pared-back 6pm bulletin.
Confidential discussions have been under way for weeks, although Warner Bros Discovery has been treading carefully given its requirement to consult staff over the proposed Newshub closure.
Last week it confirmed the closure of its news division and the axing of up to 300 jobs, while also rejecting an internal staff proposal for a new-look news service.
Boucher and Maxwell refused to engage with Media Insider last week.
The news service provided by Stuff is likely to be pared back – for example, it might have only one newsreader. Right now, Newshub has Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts fronting the 6pm news.
As part of the deal, Stuff might also insist on taking over the Newshub website and audience – or at least having access to all of its historic video content.
Media Insider will update this article as announcements are made.
Meanwhile, TVNZ has released heavily redacted information about a meeting called by Warner Bros Discovery in February to discuss a possible new news agency involving the two TV networks and RNZ.
The meeting was held in Auckland on February 21. Warner Bros Discovery proposed a single news service for the three operators, according to an internal TVNZ file note released to Media Insider under the Official Information Act.
The note, written by TVNZ chair Alastair Carruthers, who attended the meeting, said the proposed news service was “akin to the former NZPA and current UK-based ITN”.
“It would produce content that could be broadcast/ streamed by all three parties. There is no written proposal or slide deck or detail about how it would work.
“In discussion, WBD confirmed [it] would not be in a position to invest in the vehicle. It would not be a JV – except between TVNZ and RNZ if they wished to combine to create it.
“WBD would only pay a fee to the new vehicle to procure and transmit news.”
Carruthers said it was proposed the new news service could hire “from all three newsrooms and WBD could contribute to the restructuring costs of all parties, but not invest in the vehicle”.
The document reveals six people were at the meeting – Warner Bros Discovery New Zealand boss Glen Kyne and communications consultant David Cormack; TVNZ CEO Jodi O’Donnell and Carruthers; and RNZ CEO Paul Thompson and senior executive Glen Scanlon.
Carruthers’ file note says: “[Thompson] suggested the process would take up to 12 months, with 3 months required to outline and agree key terms, and 9 months to implement change and establish the new vehicle.”
The file note said Kyne had asked for TVNZ’s preliminary thoughts about the proposal but both Carruthers and O’Donnell “declined to comment”.
A day after the meeting, the TVNZ board rejected the proposal – which Kyne said was “baffling” and “disappointing”.
A week later, Warner Bros Discovery announced a proposal to disestablish Newshub – these plans were confirmed last week, with the loss of almost 300 jobs.
TVNZ also later announced its own news cutbacks, with the closure of Sunday, Fair Go and the Midday and Tonight bulletins.
This article was republished courtesy of our media partners, NZME. NZ Herald.co.nz
