‘Battle for its life’: TVNZ proposes to axe its 1News website
Monday, 7 October 2024
TVNZ is set to axe its 1News website from early next year, outsource some roles, and change rosters under a new proposal, in what is being called a battle for its life by experts.
The company said in a statement that it had shared with staff “proposed strategic changes” to help achieve $30 million in savings.
The proposed changes at TVNZ included:
Stopping 1news.co.nz in February 2025, and focus the youth platform Re: News solely on video storytelling
Outsourcing some areas across TVNZ’s content workflows and technology (in FY26)
Investing in news on TVNZ+ and establishing a new, dedicated team for this function
- Changes to some roster patterns
All TVNZ staff were called into a meeting at 1pm. A spokesperson told Stuff earlier: “TVNZ is entering into consultation with our people on proposed strategic changes to our business.
“This consultation is focused on how we might achieve our $30m target and deliver our Digital+ strategy.”
Shortly before 3pm, staff were seen leaving the TVNZ building in Auckland. All declined to comment on the details of the meeting.
NZ Herald reported that Monday marked the beginning of a new two-week process where workers could have their say on the strategic plan to find savings.
It said this would be followed by another two-week consultation on a structure change proposal.
Media expert and founder of The Spinoff Duncan Grieve said every news organisation was in a battle for its life right now - so the move from TVNZ to double down on what it is best at - video - was a solid strategic idea.
“People are working harder than they ever had… the revenue line just continues to descend for most people,” he said.
Cutting the digital news website must have been a really hard decision, he said.
“[But] why wouldn’t you put all of your investment into the core thing you are great at?”
Grieve said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a continued move towards the streaming-based TVNZ+ platform by the company.
While the idea as a whole was a positive, he said he wished the company had gone for it sooner - as it might have meant Fair Go and Sunday would still be fully operational.
TVNZ staff were told in August that the company needed to find $30m either by increasing revenue or reducing costs.
That announcement sparked fear amongst union members, who were said to be worried that further job losses were on the horizon.
A spokesperson for TVNZ said at the time that changes came as part of a Digital+ 2030 strategy.
“We’ve been transparent with our people and publicly that we need to deliver $30m in savings.
“At this stage, we’re seeking ideas from our people for strategic changes we can make across TVNZ so we can continue to deliver for New Zealand audiences in an efficient and cost-effective way,” they said.
“In this challenging media landscape, we must consider all options to ensure TVNZ is a sustainable media business.
“We don’t have the answers yet and it’s something we will work through as a business with our people over the coming months.“
The latest proposal comes after cuts in March, where 68 jobs were axed across TVNZ under a proposal that got rid of current affairs flagship shows Sunday, Fair Go, Midday and Tonight.
The broadcaster reported a loss of $85m for the year ended 30 June 2024.
This included an underlying operational earnings loss of $28.5m, with a $38.8m reduction in revenues.
It had achieved $9.9m in annualised savings off the back of strategic cost reduction measures, resulting in a net reduction in TVNZ’s cash reserves of $7.4m.
In June, Stuff reported TVNZ had racked up $275,000 in external legal costs after it failed to consult staff about cancelling shows and redundancies in an effort to save $10 million in the wake of declining advertising revenue.
In March, staff were told TVNZ would be cancelling programmes, including Sunday and Fair Go, and making about 70 employees redundant.
E tū union acted on behalf of a number of staff and were concerned TVNZ had not complied with its obligations under the relevant collective agreement and sought a compliance order from the Employment Relations Authority.
E tū won and the ERA found that TVNZ had breached its obligations.
TVNZ appealed that decision to the Employment Court and again lost after it found they had breached the collective agreement by not letting staff know about its plans for the restructure sooner.
At the Employment Court, Paul Wicks KC, acting on behalf of TVNZ, said the broadcaster's dire financial situation required labour savings of $10m.
Brent McAnulty was TVNZ’s acting chief executive in 2023 and told the court a downturn in revenue began at the start of that year, but staff weren’t made aware of the proposal to cut shows and staff until March 2024.
McAnulty told the court that was because they believed telling staff before the Christmas break would have had a “catastrophic impact on morale”, RNZ reported.
“Mr McAnulty gave evidence that he did not think that the news should have come as a shock to anyone, because he had made it very clear to staff that TVNZ needed to address costs and that, if it could not get costs under control, labour would need to be the “last lever” to be pulled,“ the employment court decision said.
The decision said McAnulty’s perspective was likely informed by the level of understanding and knowledge he had.