Media moves to cut jobs and pay, but minister indicates help will only come in 'medium term'

Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Despite case number growing more slowly, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it is still too early to tell if New Zealand's measures have been effective.

Media company NZME is believed to have begun consultations with staff over a proposal to reduce the size of its sports department from 40 staff to just 12.

RNZ separately reported on Tuesday that NZME had asked all its staff to take 15 days annual or unpaid leave and invited staff to express their interest in voluntary redundancy.

NZME spokesman Cliff Joiner said he could not comment on any consultations, or RNZ's report.

Media firms have been hard hit by the drop in advertising that has followed the coronavirus lockdown, and sports reporting has been impacted by the near annihilation of live sports.

NZME closed its Radio Sport radio channel suddenly on Monday.

**READ MORE

Media businesses could qualify for 'tailored assistance' but Finance Minister Grant Robertson says any recovery package for the sector will be worked on 'over the medium term'.

* MediaWorks asks staff to take 15% pay cut

* NZ Herald owner confirms closure of Radio Sport

* Government could end up part-owning hundreds of big businesses**

Michael Anderson, chief executive of television Three owner MediaWorks, said on Wednesday that it had asked staff to take a pay cut of between 15 and 20 per cent as it entered a 'fight for survival'.

The country's big four privately-owned media businesses, MediaWorks, NZME, Sky Television and Stuff are all large enough to potentially qualify for 'tailored assistance' that Finance Minister Grant Robertson has said the Government will consider providing to larger firms.

RNZ has reported that NZME staff have been invited to express interest in voluntary redundancy.

A total of 2189 companies could potentially qualify for the assistance, which will be considered on a case-by-case basis for firms that have annual revenues of over $80 million a year.

Joiner would not comment on whether NZME would seek help through that initiative.

A MediaWorks spokeswoman said it had been discussing 'a range of issues with the Government', but said its focus was on its people at the moment.

Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher said it would be 'looking very carefully at all the options for assistance'.

'The media business has been hit very hard by the drop off in advertising and we will need to make some rapid adjustments to get through,' she said.

Channel Three owner MediaWorks says it has been discussing a range of issues with the Government.

However, Robertson appeared to indicate at a press conference on Wednesday that media businesses were not an immediate priority for help.

The Treasury had established a unit to look at support for large and 'network critical' businesses and was getting expert advice from consultants on the forms that might take, he said.

'That could range from anything from loans to potential equity purchases and so on,' he said.

Businesses in the aviation sector and tourism could be high in mind for support, he indicated.

Help has already been provided to Air New Zealand in the form of a $900 million loan facility.

Some other large businesses such as supermarket chains and telecommunications companies were unlikely to need support, he said.

'The media is an area that sits within a broader set of recovery packages that we are going to be working on over the medium term,' he said, implying special assistance for the industry would not be on offer in the short term.

'Clearly this is a hugely challenging period for the media sector which was already under pressure before we got into this situation so we will work our way through what that might look like.

'But that unit that has been established inside the Treasury is designed to look at network-critical businesses and what we may need to do in the event they get under stress,' he said.