‘Difficult choices’ as 68 jobs set to be cut at TVNZ
The potential loss of up to 68 jobs at TVNZ, on top of 250 journalism job losses in the works at Newshub, are signs of a sector in freefall, says an industry insider.
TVNZ said yesterday that it will begin consultations about cutting up to 68 jobs, or 9% of its workforce. The state-owned broadcaster – which last week reported a six-month loss of $16.8 million, and indicated break-even was years away – said the cuts would be “across all business areas”.
A well-connected source said they believed TVNZ’s job cuts would potentially include about 40 journalism roles.
South Pacific Pictures chief executive Kelly Martin, who has worked at both TVNZ and TV3, said potential layoffs at 1News and the closure of Newshub were “worrying on a bigger scale”.
“We do seem to be in freefall as an industry. Where is it going to land? We don't want good things to get lost in the mix as random decisions are being made, which aren’t necessarily good for the industry,” she said.
The proposed closure of Newshub, announced last week, threatens about 250 jobs in journalism, making it the biggest potential blow to the profession to date.
South Pacific Pictures managing director Andrew Szusterman said there was sorrow at a more personal level.
“What we’re seeing out of Newshub and our colleagues that were there for many, many years across news and the wider business, it’s so sad,” he said.
The people affected by the proposed TVNZ restructuring would be sent an invitation yesterday for a meeting today, TVNZ said.
RNZ reported it was understood that there would be a meeting for TVNZ news and current affairs staff at 1pm today, following meetings for staff working on Fair Go, Sunday and online news platform Re: News. A source told RNZ that it was unlikely anyone from the Wellington newsroom would be affected.
Another source said there was speculation that Fair Go might survive in some form, but be merged into Seven Sharp as part of the changes.
A TVNZ spokesperson would not confirm if the bulk of the job losses would be in news or current affairs, or provide any more details.
Chief executive Jodi O’Donnell said tough economic conditions and structural challenges within the media sector were impacting its revenue performance, and “difficult choices needed to be made to ensure TVNZ remained sustainable”.
“TVNZ’s executive team has focused on reducing operating costs over the last 12 months.
“Unfortunately, we’re now at the point where we need to reduce the size of our team to bring our costs more in line with our revenue. Changes like the ones we’re proposing are incredibly hard, but we need to ensure we’re in a stronger position to transform the business to meet the needs of our viewers in a digital world,” she said.
O’Donnell said there were “no easy answers”, and media organisations locally and globally were grappling with the same issues.
“Our priority is to support our people through the change process. We’ll take the next few weeks to collect, consider and respond to feedback from TVNZers before making any final decisions,” she said.
A confirmed structure is expected to be finalised by early April.
There had been speculation that TVNZ might cut its hour-long 6pm news bulletin to 30 minutes as part of the cutbacks, which would have further emasculated television news.
However, it is understood that this is not part of the current proposal.
The announcement on cost-cutting measures came eight days after television channel Three owner Warner Bros Discovery kicked off consultations on axing its Newshub news and current affairs arm.
Warner Bros produces both Three’s hour-long 6pm news bulletin and Sky Open’s 30-minute News First bulletin.
Were TVNZ to halve its bulletin, this would mean that 2½ hours of prime time news shows would be slashed to just 30 minutes, with viewers losing any choice of broadcast.
There is a glimmer of hope, with Sky Television indicating some interest in getting into local news.
A Warner Bros Discovery spokesperson said on Wednesday that it had been approached by several parties interested in exploring “options”.
Media and Communications Minister Melissa Lee said she would encourage Sky TV to get into local news if it was interested.
There has also been speculation that TVNZ’s long-running Shortland Street drama could be under threat from cost-cutting.
TVNZ’s spokesperson said it was having discussions with the show’s producer, South Pacific Pictures.
“This is part of our regular renewal process for the show, and we don’t have any changes to the programme to announce at the moment,” she said.
Lee said a lot of New Zealanders might be sad to see that show impacted, but it would be a commercial decision for TVNZ.
“It’s not something that a minister can actually direct or intervene in. I am sure there are many people who wish that I could, but I can’t.”
TVNZ last week reported a loss of $16.8m for the six months to the end of December, after booking a $12.2m writedown. So far it has not revised its full-year guidance of a $15.6m loss, but its spokesperson said that forecast could change.
The cost of redundancies would appear likely to add millions of dollars to its loss.
Lee said on Wednesday that she hoped to meet with Warner Bros Discovery today, but it is understood that the broadcaster turned down a meeting because of its current priorities, after confirming that it was more of a courtesy visit.