Flagship 6pm news cancelled, 294 jobs gone
Newshub staff have been told the flagship programme Newshub Live at 6pm will end in July as part of a major restructure of its news operation that will slash nearly 300 jobs.
Newshub investigative reporter Michael Morrah fronted media as staff left the meeting at the Dalmation Cultural Society.
“This is devastating for myself and all my colleagues, but it’s devastating for New Zealand as a whole,” Morrah said.
“Newshub acted to better society, and it’s a huge blow for democracy.”
Colleague Amanda Gillies wiped tears behind him.
Newshub employee Darren Bevan posted on X yesterday morning: “Newshub goneburger.”
The final show, which is anchored by Mike McRoberts and Samantha Hayes, will be on July 5.
The restructure means the closure of all Newshub’s multi-platform news operations and output, including the Newshub website, AM, and the 6pm TV bulletin.
The 294 jobs to disappear include journalists, producers, editors, camera operators and associated staff, Newshub owner Warner Bros Discovery said. That would leave 120 roles.
Three and its digital on-demand service, ThreeNow, will continue to operate. The highly speculated fate of Newshub, owned by Warner Bros, was revealed at a meeting with staff at 11am.
One Newshub staffer, who wished to remain anonymous, said earlier: “I’m feeling nervous ahead of the meeting, we did absolutely everything within our power to keep a very realistic operation going, and keep our democracy in better shape.”
In February, Warner Bros Discovery had proposed to shut down the news division, at the expected cost of hundreds of roles from journalists to production staff.
At the time, Warner Bros Australia/New Zealand boss Glen Kyne said Discovery would be committed to retaining a local presence, although one with a much smaller operating model and lower cost base.
“Free-to-air and news are expensive businesses to run. Put simply, the economic headwinds means the returns are not there,” Kyne said in February.
Warner Bros Discovery said yesterday that from July, its New Zealand content will be a mix of local programming in conjunction with funding partners, acquisitions across drama, comedy, sport, reality and factual, and key titles from its extensive library.
Bravo, Eden, Rush and HGTV will remain as they are.
The parent company had been facing big losses, with another disappointing earnings report prompting a drop in its share price.
James Gibbons, Warner Bros Discovery Asia-Pacific president, said yesterday the business could not continue in its current form.
“When we announced the proposed restructure six weeks ago, we explained that there was nothing anyone in our New Zealand networks business could have done better – it was a combination of very strong economic headwinds both in New Zealand and the global market,” Gibbons said.
“As we said at the time, the downturn has been severe, and the bounce-back has not materialised as expected.
“Just recently, it was revealed that in 2023 alone, $74 million disappeared from broadcast TV advertising in New Zealand.” That was the single largest year-on-year drop in 30 years, he said.
MediaWorks sold Newshub to US multimedia company Discovery Inc, now called Warner Bros Discovery, in late 2020.
The meeting follows confirmation from TVNZ on Tuesday that several of its major current affairs programmes, and others, faced the axe. Fair Go, Tonight and Midday will go off-air in mid-May, following a period of consultation with staff.