Media: TV current affairs hits hard times

TV3 staff are bracing for a not-so-happy holiday season. Photo / Supplied

Network commitments to current affairs have hit a new low with TVNZ planning to delay the return of Sunday and TV3 making swingeing cuts to 60 Minutes.

The extra long gap before its return will be filled by the cooking reality show MasterChef. Sunday normally returns with a new season in February but next year has been delayed until May.

The lay-by of TVNZ's premier current affairs show follows a decision this year to farewell its most experienced journalist, Cameron Bennett.

Meantime TV3 is making cuts to its weekly current affairs programme 60 Minutes as staff brace for a not-so-merry Christmas. TV3 sources said 60 Minutes was cutting budgets for the Monday night show by 50 per cent.

And one source said staff had been told the company was not going ahead with refurbishment of its Eden Terrace studios.

Some staff were bracing for a round of cuts and were "angry" because they viewed the TV operation as performing well, a source said.

Problems were due to Ironbridge Capital's structuring of the heavily leveraged 2007 buyout of MediaWorks.

MediaWorks assets include TV3, C4 and half the country's radio stations including The Rock, The Edge, More FM and RadioLive.

TV3 marketing boss Roger Beaumont was "neither confirming nor denying" layoffs were to come.

MediaWorks made a brief statement about the claim 60 Minutes budget had been halved.

"60 Minutes is, and will remain, a crucial part of the TV3 schedule, especially as the network evolves to a 25-54 target audience.

"However, like any prudent business, we are always reviewing costs and looking at options for managing the organisation as efficiently as possible."

This year this column reported MediaWorks bosses were asking about the future of the 7pm show CampbellLive.

Initially TV3 made a commitment to John Campbell the star, but not CampbellLive the show.

But when MediaWorks recently announced a shake-up, TV3 chief executive Jason Paris said the 7pm weeknights show was a key to its strategy aiming at a slightly older audiences.

OH HENRY

Meanwhile, over in the MediaWorks radio division, RadioLive presenters could be excused a few jitters with Paul Henry on the loose.

MediaWorks has been courting Henry and it's understood he has been exploring the option of RadioLive with some sort of outlet on TV3. Where could he go?

RadioLive Breakfast host Marcus Lush is a marvellous broadcaster - but he has a niche appeal and is yet to make a significant impact on breakfast ratings.

This has been a year of endless tabloid circuses for Nine to Noon host Michael Laws. MediaWorks could be excused for being exasperated and wondering how much he is drawing in listeners and how much his antics are keeping listeners away.

Laws' astonishingly generous five-year contract has another year to run.

Afternoon hosts Willie Jackson and John Tamihere are probably secure - as are night-time hosts Karyn Hay and Andrew Fagan.

But Henry once had Maggie Barry's drivetime job so she probably can't relax.

And what of The Radio Network?

Mid-morning host Leighton Smith is still bringing in the numbers - but Henry would provide an appealing option for talk radio listeners who don't like Laws.

Then there is Hauraki - TRN got into a row with new drivetime host Iain Stables before he even started. Henry is quite rock'n'roll.

MONEY MATTERS

Henry would not come cheap - one estimate is that he could demand $500,000 plus for a joint radio-TV role.

But Mediaworks does not have a lot of money to throw around.

Debt restructuring and debt-for-equity deals this year reduced interest payments and introduced mezzanine debt holder Goldman Sachs as a significant stakeholder, though the company remained controlled by private equity firm Ironbridge Capital.

However, MediaWorks is still heavily encumbered with debts.

It's a tough haul. As a medium radio is going through a dry period, but its overheads are lower so it can tough things out. Conversely, the television advertising market has rebounded.

But MediaWorks has not enjoyed the benefits of the upturn as much as TVNZ and Sky TV.

The state broadcaster has embarked on an aggressive sales drive for ad time with packages linked to its stable of new media interests such as tvnzondemand and tvnz.co.nz.

When advertising slumped, TV3 battled interest payments and had to pare back already tight budgets.

TVNZ also saw ad revenue slide last year, but it had low debt and Government owners allowed it to deliver poor returns while investing in new media.

The upshot is that state TV - backed by a National Government not-so-secretly preparing it for privatisation - has emerged from the ad slump with new drawcards.

Meanwhile TV3 is still climbing its mountain of debt and trying to catch up with new media.

LESS THAN OPTIMAL

TVNZ has rejected five formal complaints against Paul Holmes and Q&A for his emotional interview with Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly.

"However that doesn't mean TVNZ regarded the interview as optimal; it wasn't," said spokeswoman Megan Richards.

In the Labour Weekend interview Holmes gushed over the "genius" Sir Peter Jackson and his business colleague Sir Richard Taylor, "a gentle giant of a man".

Kelly was put in her place. "You see, I think the impression people have, Helen, is you're well out of your depth. When Jackson calls you clueless and tells you to go home - this is a New Zealand-produced genius, the like of which we'll never see again."

Richards said the interview was less than optimal, "simply because when emotions reach a certain pitch, people stop listening".

"Viewers tend to become fixed on the emotions and the substance of the argument gets lost. The net result is more sound and fury but less light on the subject, and that's really not what we want."

It was all being taken on board.

"Paul Holmes and his producers are well aware of this, and it'll be taken into account in the normal tweaking that goes on in the course of making a programme like this," she said.

"Interviewing is an art, not a science, and there will always be some that are better than others. In the absence of any breach of the BSA standards it becomes a matter of style and tone which is something for the programme to sort out," she said.

Complainants unhappy with the decision are able to complain to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

QUESTIONABLE

Notwithstanding TVNZ's "tweaks" there are a few factors in the Q&A Kelly interview that suggest the mess should should not be swept under the carpet.

* It came soon after the Paul Henry fiasco that revealed inadequate oversight of a presenter allowed to mix strong opinion with news. In that case hundreds of complaints were upheld but - apparently as with Holmes - TVNZ saw no problems with its processes.

* Within 24 hours of the interview Holmes had made inflammatory remarks in other media, taking sides in the dispute.

* Q&A is wholly funded by taxpayers and is regarded as one of our few examples of public-service television.

* Funder New Zealand On Air is not allowed to get into editorial issues - these are solely under TVNZ's control.

* There had been marches through the streets.