TV3-owner expected to go internet-only after next year, minister advised

Thursday, 28 March 2024

Warner Bros Discovery estimated “hard date” for ceasing digital terrestrial television broadcasts was mid-next year.

Television channel Three owner Warner Bros Discovery had been planning to switch off its New Zealand television broadcasts in favour of streaming all of its programmes over the internet after next year, a document reveals.

Warner Bros Discovery would not confirm on Thursday whether that remained its thinking.

An aide memoire produced by the Culture and Heritage Ministry in December for Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee stated that Warner Bros Discover had advised it would need to move to an internet-only service “beyond 2025”.

That was because it would no longer be economic to continue broadcasts after that, it said.

But it is understood any decisions on the shape of the company’s transmissions are now up in the air, following the announcement in February that it was consulting on closing its Newshub news and current affairs arm.

The ministry’s aide memoire was prepared in order to brief Lee on issues that might arise during a meeting between Lee and Warner Bros Discovery senior vice president Glen Kyne on December 21.

Officials said that Warner Bros Discovery estimated that the “hard date” for ceasing digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasts — which are the most popular way for New Zealanders to watch free-to-air television — was “mid-2025”.

It also broadcasts its channels free-to-air via satellite, but only in standard definition.

The ministry’s document revealed that Warner Bros Discovery was paying state-owned transmission company Kordia $5.2 million a year to deliver its DTT broadcasters.

Warner Bros Discovery had previously made clear that it had been seeking relief from the Government for those fees.

An OIA response implies Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee took no notes from the December meeting.

Officials told Lee in the December briefing document that the company was likely to ask for relief “to create a sustainable future” for the media and entertainment giant locally.

The aide memoire was publicly released in the wake of an Official Information Act request for copies of correspondence between Lee and Warner Bros Discovery and notes of meetings and phone calls she had with the company.

Lee advised the briefing document was the only document that fell within the scope of the request, implying she took no notes from the meeting with Warner Bros Discovery or from two phone calls she subsequently had with the company in February to discuss its Newshub decision.

The Culture and Heritage Ministry told Lee in the December briefing document that Warner Bros Discovery had signalled concern with its investment in New Zealand and its departure would mean “a decrease in media plurality”.

TVNZ is understood to need to make a decision in or around 2026 or 2027 on whether to continue with DTT broadcasts and, by 2032, on whether to renew a separate contract that lets households watch its channels in standard definition via satellite.

Chief executive Jodi O'Donnell told The Post in February that it planned to become “digital first” in four or five years’ time and was preparing for the time when it would be online-only.