KEY POINTS:
First SkyCity Entertainment dismissed a cheeky offer for its cinema chain from US-based firm Reading Cinemas.
Now there is trouble at the till with a union-backed strike at the candy bar.
Spare a thought for SkyCity chief executive and casino man Nigel Morrison as he finds his place in the dim, dark cinema business.
The casino company made no secret it wanted to exit the movie business.
It wiped about $60 million off the SkyCity Cinemas valuation, reducing the guideline to buyers.
But SkyCity isn't desperate yet.
It has knocked an offer from the sole bidder, Reading Cinemas, that would have seen SkyCity financing the sale.
Reading had claimed the dramatic 50 per cent writedown and the bargain basement valuation was more than it wanted to pay.
And even at its super-cheap offer Reading wanted SkyCity to finance some of the purchase price at interest rates lower than those available in the market.
SkyCity baulked at this back-end price reduction and insists it is going to make the cinemas work.
But a cinema industry source expects Reading will come back.
The company has a reputation for spinning out its acquisitions as long as possible, the source says.
And cinemas rely on disposable income, so it is unlikely to get easier for SkyCity.
Meanwhile trouble is being fomented at the candy bar over pay talks.
Trade union Unite is planning rolling stoppages - it calls them popcorn strikes - at SkyCity cinema complexes.
Unite National director Mike Treen said that the company was in pay talks with Reading and Hoyts as well, but SkyCity is first up.
The union - which he said represented 80 per cent of candy bar staff at SkyCity - was looking for 20c per hour above the minimum wage, or $12.20. But the company has offered staff discounts on ice creams, he said.
He acknowledged past claims about tough times, but said that with the $60 million writedown the company would now be making a good return.
NORTHERN LIGHTS
The good news for SkyCity - if a rival's misfortune is good news - is that Hoyts is having troubles.
In Auckland, Hoyts' Sylvia Park complex set a new standard for flash cinema facilities and cut attendance at nearby SkyCity cinemas. But we hear that SkyCity has turned the tide on the North Shore since it opened a new multiplex at the Westfield shopping mall in Albany.
The Hoyts complex has recently been refurbished rather nicely. But when a cinema-goer went there last Saturday night, the lobby was nearly empty.
OFF LIKE GOFTON
Food writer Allyson Gofton is off the menu at ACP magazines' Next Magazine. Gofton is an ingredient in many of the "ordinary eats" features and crossed the line between editorial and advertising by plugging Watties in TV ads. Next says because of the added demands of having a new child, she is moving on and they have appointed Pippa Cuthbert as food editor.
ACP chief executive Paul Dykzeul said he was sorry Gofton was off. "But food editors come and go at magazines - they change all the time," he said. It is understood Gofton is to feature in Real, the new Fairfax Magazines-produced in-house title for New World Magazines. Real replaces New World Essentially Food after a pitch last year. Its publishers 3 Media are turning it into a newsstand title.
TVNZ'S AGENDA
Television New Zealand is planning to take the charter-funded political programme Agenda in-house, company sources say. The move follows the unorthodox funding arrangements for the TVNZ 7 digital political programme Back Benches last year. Back then 13 companies tendered for the series only to see the contract awarded in-house and given comfortable budgets.
It is understood that changes will ensure that the programme - funded out of taxpayer grants for the charter - will be made through the news and current affairs division. Agenda executive producer Richard Harman confirmed that he was in discussions with TVNZ about the contract to produce the show but declined to comment further.
Why would TVNZ take charter-funded shows in-house? Some argue it is a trend away from independent producers, but there have been questions about how TVNZ accounts for charter money.
As an in-house production there is less scrutiny on budgets. TVNZ charges charter-funded shows for studio and other facilities. I'm told nobody checks charges are market rate. Shouldn't they?
SPLIT SHIFTS
Close Up host Mark Sainsbury has made it as a star at state television but still has to work split shifts next week as a fill in for Breakfast host Paul Henry.
He will be getting up for work at 4am, coming home at 9pm and hopefully having a kip sometime in between. Sainsbury insists the double duties won't be too onerous, noting that Henry did the job alongside his gig on Radio Live, while Paul Holmes worked for years at Newstalk ZB while fronting his TV show.
"It's only for a bloody week," he said.
Asked if his social life would be curtailed Sainsbury insisted he did not really have a social life - his card school playing 500 at his apartment with the great and good of New Zealand entertainment, including John Campbell, might have to be dropped next week, he suggested.
3 NEWS ONLINE
MediaWorks has ramped up its 3 News website and promises material will be online faster and news clips will be streamed more quickly. That would increase its share of online ratings and advertising revenues.
MediaWorks New Media boss Siobhan McKenna has been working through the websites in the group but the news site is a key part of the upgrade in part because it is the busiest part of MediaWorks.
MediaWorks has been playing online catch-up for its television and its radio assets. It's an issue relevant to news sites.
"You only need a picture of something outrageous or some freakish weather and the site gets a lot of attention," McKenna said. "That's because the hit rate for people visiting the site can increase rapidly and with big volumes."
McKenna said that the competition at TVNZ had general programming on its site and through its tvnzondemand model, while TV3 were aiming at getting things on air quickly. "We'll be aimed at short form content in the future as well," he said. There were also plans to develop the TV3 site into a full entertainment site.
