Newshub is set to be thrown a lifeline with Warner Bros Discovery preparing to announce a new deal which could see a news service saved in pared-back form.
The media company will meet staff on Wednesday to outline the outcome of a five-week consultation period following the announcement in late February of the proposed closure of Newshub and other production and staff cutbacks at the end of June. Up to 300 jobs are under threat.
At least two groups of staff have been working on plans to save Newshub - and their jobs.
At the same time as staff consultation has been under way, Warner Bros Discovery has been in confidential discussions with third parties, including rival media companies, about a potential new-look news service. These talks have been held in secrecy with parties signing non-disclosure agreements.
A potential outside partnership would likely see Warner Bros Discovery continue with its plan to close its newsroom and pay out redundancies, but then pay a fee to a third party - likely another media organisation - to provide a news service, including a 6pm TV bulletin.
The future of the Newshub website remains unclear under such a deal but with a monthly unique audience of more than one million people, it is likely to be an attractive proposition for some.
As Media Insider reported last month, advertising industry sources have pointed to the tens of millions of dollars of advertising revenue that Newshub’s 6pm news hour continues to draw each year.
While traditional TV audiences and revenue have fallen heavily in recent years, they are still significant. By not having a 6pm news bulletin to attract early evening audiences, Warner Bros Discovery’s primetime advertising revenue could completely disintegrate after June 30 - revenue that might flow to the likes of TVNZ but more likely head overseas and into the coffers of the tech giants.
A new partner would likely have to take on the cost of hiring enough staff to provide a news service and 6pm bulletin, on the understanding that it would be pared back from the current cost base so as to leave a decent margin. Any such rescue plan would be unlikely to avoid hefty job cuts.
It is understood, for instance, that the bulletin might have only one newsreader, rather than two, and may rely more heavily on foreign news.
Potential new owners or operators of the Newshub brand would undoubtedly need to ensure any contract was lucrative enough for them to be able to hire any additional journalists from the likes of the existing Newshub team, and that they had the production capability.
Media Insider understands that Stuff is among the leading contenders to partner with Warner Bros Discovery. Neither Stuff owner Sinead Boucher nor chief executive Laura Maxwell responded to messages yesterday.
NZME - publisher of the NZ Herald and owner of Newstalk ZB - has previously declined to comment while RNZ says it has not developed a proposal.
“We would of course be open to any conversations about how we may be able to assist any new arrangement, should one progress, in line with our current content-sharing partnership with WBD,” said an RNZ spokeswoman.
A Warner Bros Discovery spokesman said yesterday: “As promised on the announcement on 28 February, we committed to listening to all internal and external feedback and ideas, and we will continue to do so as we work through our consultation process. This consultation process is confidential, and will remain so until its conclusion.”
Another key third party - and potential partner - is Sky Television.
For many years, Newshub has produced and provided content for Sky’s 5.30pm news bulletin, broadcast on its free-to-air channel Sky Open (formerly Prime). This has been a lucrative contract for Newshub, and it is understood any new partner will likely want to continue producing the bulletin for Sky.
While Sky does not have a newsroom, it certainly has production capability and it would not be inconceivable for it to team up with the likes of Stuff or another media company to provide a news service for itself and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
“We clearly have an interest in the decisions made by WBD regarding Newshub, given they have a direct impact on our News First at 5.30pm on Sky Open,” a Sky spokeswoman said yesterday.
“We’ve said previously that we’re keen to explore how we might continue to play our part in delivering strong local news, where it makes commercial sense.
“But we’re not in a three-way conversation with WBD and a news-gathering service at this time, and - like everyone - are awaiting the outcome of WBD’s employee consultation process.”
A team of Newshub staff - led by senior investigative journalist Michael Morrah - has been thrashing out a potential arrangement to save Newshub. Details of that proposal are understood to have been presented internally to staff last week.
It is understood the proposal outlines a transformation from a terrestrial TV news service to digital over the next two years.
What is not clear is whether Warner Bros Discovery would be willing to bear the cost of the newsroom as that transformation gets under way.
It emerged yesterday that a second group of staff has also come up with a proposal to save Newshub and other roles.
A Warner Bros Discovery spokesman would not comment, referring Media Insider to his earlier statement.
In early March, Morrah told the Herald’s Tom Dillane that a group of senior journalists would work on a proposal to save the news operation in some reduced form.
“Certainly as a group [of] our 6pm reporters, we want to come together and try to come up with some sort of plan [to present to] management [and] see if they’re going to listen to that, give us serious consideration,” Morrah said.
“No decisions have been made about what that might look like or what might be stripped back.
“And I don’t wish to speculate on that until I’ve discussed with my colleagues because we haven’t had the chance to even consider that, really, because we’re all still busy putting out the news.”
He added: “We’ve got to give it a crack, right? It might not make a difference. We don’t know, but we have to put something forward in the event that we could save part of the newsroom, keep some people employed. That’s the aim of the game.”
Morrah has declined to comment on the proposal in more recent weeks as he and other staff have been working on the details.
'I can imagine people being outraged that TVNZ signed a deal with me.'