TVNZ news staff told to expect announcement Thursday
Wednesday, 6 March 2024
Some TVNZ news staff have been told to brace for an email announcement on Thursday.
TVNZ has acknowledged to Stuff that it has a “need to reduce our headcount”.
The development at the state-owned broadcaster comes exactly a week after Newshub announced a proposal to close down.
Some staff in TVNZ’s newsroom have been told to expect an email on Thursday about the future of its news operation.
The news at the state-owned broadcaster comes exactly a week after Warner Bros Discovery announced Newshub may close down on June 30.
Do you know more, email newstips@stuff.co.nz
Stuff asked TVNZ if jobs were going to be affected. TVNZ said it had been “upfront with TVNZers that we will need to reduce our headcount to meet the immediate revenue challenges facing the business.”
“We also need to develop a more sustainable operating model to take us into a digital future.
“We will always take our people through proposed changes first, and so we have no comment to make on the timing or details of any business restructuring at this stage.”
On its 6pm bulletin, TVNZ said restructure plans and job losses were expected at tomorrow’s announcement “according to reports from other media”.
“The company hasn’t confirmed anything to One News,” they reported.
“It also says TVNZ has been upfront about reducing its headcount, but its not saying anything about the timing of that.”
TVNZ did not say whether Melissa Lee, the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, had been made aware of the situation under the ‘no surprises’ policy.
Calls from Stuff to the minister’s phone were not answered on Wednesday.
A spokesperson subsequently said Lee was unavailable for an interview tonight, and issued a statement in the meantime.
“This is an operational matter for TVNZ. My thoughts are with TVNZ staff as they await further news.”
RNZ's Checkpoint show indicated a change at TVNZ could be to reduce the length of the 6pm bulletin to 30 minutes.
Lee said she spoke to the TVNZ Board Chair and the CEO on Friday but that for “any details of that conversation you will have to ask TVNZ because it is their information that I don't think I am entitled to actually tell the public”.
Asked if there would be any redundancies announced in the short term, she said 'that would be up to TVNZ to announce'.
Lee was asked how she would feel and what she would make of TVNZ cutting its news bulletin to 30 minutes, trimming its newsroom or getting rid of current affairs programmes.
She said: 'I don't think it really matters what I think about how news is actually produced or is shown in public. I think these are decisions for the broadcasters and news entities.
'Having said that, I think news entities need to realise that people are consuming news in a very different way, and sometimes some people are actually thinking they don't wanna sit there for an hour watching the news.
“These are considerations that the entities will need to analyse and actually decide how they are able to reach their audiences.
'And also advertising dollar has actually dropped tremendously and how are they going to entice advertisers to advertise on their platforms, or on their news or on their programmes.
Lee said it had been signalled for a long time that linear television would eventually end, how quickly would be determined by how fast the audiences dropped out of the linear television sector.
When asked for additional information given the minister’s comment, a TVNZ spokesperson sent the same statement circulated earlier, while adding, “RNZ’s speculation is just that, speculation”.
A well-connected industry source told Stuff they had heard speculation more than 60 jobs could go. It was unclear if this was just in news, or affected staff in other parts of the operation.
A TVNZ spokesperson did not expect chief executive Jodi O'Donnell would be available for interviews on Thursday.
E tū organiser Michael Gilchrist told Stuff this afternoon that the union was “not in a position to comment”.
A Labour spokesperson responded to a request for comment from former Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson, saying “it would not be appropriate for us to speculate”.
An ACT spokesperson said David Seymour was also unable to comment.
Last week TVNZ reported a loss of $16.7m in the six months to December. That included an impairment of $12.2m.
TVNZ said, at the time, it reflected a declining local advertising market.
Advertising revenue fell from $171.3m in the six months to December 2022 to $146.8m in the six months to December 2023.
TVNZ said total revenue of $155.9m represented a 13.5% decrease from last year.
“A challenging trading environment has seen a significant reduction in television advertising revenue, while digital revenue continues to increase year-on-year.“