TVNZ to cut between 70 and 90 jobs to protect 'financial sustainability'

Monday, 15 June 2020

TVNZ intends to confirm new structure by July.

TVNZ is preparing to cut between 70 and 90 jobs and has begun consultations with staff.

The changes were necessary to protect the 'financial sustainability of the business', which continued to be influenced by Covid-19’s impact on the advertising market, chief executive Kevin Kenrick said in a statement.

The broadcaster employed 670 full-time equivalents as of the end of June last year, though that number is believed to have increased somewhat since then.

Spokeswoman Rachel Howard said TVNZ would not comment on what types of jobs it might cut while consultations were ongoing.

Nor would she comment on whether any 'big name' presenters might be in the frame.

TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick expects advertising to recover gradually over the next 18 months.

* There's no good reason for 133 TVNZ staff to be earning more than $120,000 a year

* TVNZ outlines newsroom cuts to staff

Kenrick said TVNZ’s revenues dropped 30 per cent during the Covid lockdown and it expected momentum to recover only gradually over the next 18 months.

“TVNZ has already made substantial savings in areas of discretionary spending, executive remuneration, capital investment projects, and deferred content productions,' he said.

'These actions have enabled TVNZ to offset revenue losses for this quarter, and we now need to resize our business to safeguard the future of TVNZ.”

Clarifying the 'executive remuneration' savings, Howard said TVNZ senior business leaders were forgoing the short-term incentive component of their remuneration.

'Short term incentives amount to approximately 40 per cent of CEO remuneration, 30 per cent of executive team remuneration and 10 per cent of business leader remuneration,' she said.

Kenrick expected to confirm the new business structure by early July and said he was focused on 'supporting our people as we move through this challenging time”.

TVNZ is the third large media organisation to move to cut jobs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Radio, digital and newspaper business NZME made 200 of its 1400 staff redundant in April and television channel owner MediaWorks began consultations to cut 130 jobs last month.