Departed TVNZ reporters Helen Castles (with husband Andrew Saville) and Nicole Bremner; and the 2002 Bledisloe Cup Vodafone streaking incident featuring Kiwi Aaron Bain.
Respected TVNZ reporters Helen Castles and Nicole Bremner open up about their departures; TVNZ outsourcing on horizon; A naked marketing stunt unlikely ever to be repeated; Sky TV’s big day; Jack Tame and Mava Moayyed’s baby news; Peter Williams on his Treaty Principles Bill submission.
TVNZ has lost several well-known and respected reporters – including Helen Castles and Nicole Bremner – and more cuts may be on the horizon in other parts of the organisation as the broadcaster considers outsourcing.
Both Castles and Bremner have opened up to Media Insider about their departures after an unsettling period at the state broadcaster, in which it has been seeking $30 million in cost-cutting or revenue gains.
After a tumultuous 2024, TVNZ faces a potentially contentious new battle with the E tū union this year – the union wants assurances that the company won’t outsource roles that could be handled in-house.
And while TVNZ is understood to have offered a 1.5% pay increase from July 1, the union wants bracketed income increases, with a minimum $4000 boost for most members, according to sources.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said yesterday: “Following consultation with our people, we confirmed that we would outsource some areas from FY26 [which starts on July 1 this year] onwards.”
Only two years ago, TVNZ had about 730 staff. Its latest annual report shows 600 staff – but that number is now believed to be about 550 as a result of recent job losses, including those in the newsroom.
It is understood the E tū union has had some success in reducing - from seven to three - the number of departments which may be exposed to outsourcing: media operations; content operations and digital capability (technology).
In a recent newsletter to its TVNZ workers, E tū said: “Union members have identified outsourcing as something we should resist as strenuously as possible.
“Cutting labour costs from the organisation is one thing, contracting out jobs is another. Apart from the loss of jobs – and job conditions – that outsourcing entails, we believe it only increases financial risks to the organisation, especially in the medium and longer term.”
Consultation over outsourcing is expected to start shortly. The union may yet hold a strike ballot.
The TVNZ spokeswoman said: “We believe some outsourcing in specific areas would allow us to benefit from technology advancements and capabilities at a global standard.
“We’re focused on transitioning to a digital-first media organisation and our competitors in this space are international streaming platforms.”
She said there were no restructuring plans right now.
“We are ... replacing our legacy technology with a more modern technology architecture ... we’re working through options for what tasks and resourcing may be needed in-house and what we may need from a vendor.
“Given the stage we’re at, we don’t have details on what outsourcing could look like. While outsourcing is some time away, we are committed to being transparent with TVNZers around our plans.”
The spokeswoman said an update on the $30m cost task would be provided with the release of the company’s interim financial results next week.
Almost every major New Zealand media company has been dealing with cost-cutting over the past 12 months. That has continued into 2025 for some.
As Media Insider reported this week, about 30 roles are being cut from the NZ Herald newsroom and several well-known journalistic names have opted for voluntary redundancy including political editor Claire Trevett, deputy business editor Grant Bradley, senior sports writer and columnist Chris Rattue and Viva creative and fashion director Dan Ahwa.
Outgoing TVNZ reporter Helen Castles has established her own communications company and is already picking up work after leaving the state broadcaster this month.
Life, she says, has been “pretty good” since she left a couple of weeks ago. “Everybody says there is life outside TV, and they’re right. Since I have left I’ve felt a sense of relief and excitement.”
Castles is one of several TVNZ reporters and other staff who have lost their roles as the state broadcaster as it seeks to find $30m.
“It was sort of the push that I needed,” said Castles, who had been with TVNZ for 13 years, including about seven years as the broadcaster’s dedicated Northland reporter.
She leaves, she says, on good terms – “they treated me pretty well” – although she is sad Northland no longer has a dedicated reporter.
She is worried the region will not receive the same level of coverage.
“They seem to think that they’re going to fill it from Auckland, but I think that they underestimate the fact that Northland goes well beyond Whangārei. It goes up into the Far North; there are communities north of Kaitaia.”
Castles covered a range of big stories, including the Enchanter sinking in 2022 and the Abbey Caves school trip tragedy in 2023. But she also loved the feel-good community-based stories such as fishing competitions.
“I did love my job. You don’t stay in a job for so long if you don’t love it, and I did. It gave me a lot of flexibility and it was quite rewarding because I did everything – I worked by myself up north, so I would come up with my own stories. I’d shoot them. I would report them, present them, script them and edit them. That was quite rewarding when you see it all put together.”
Castles is worried about the journalistic cutbacks in New Zealand and believes reporters are underappreciated for the role they play in a democracy.
“People are very quick to form their views about journalists. They say they’re unbalanced – they’re too left, they’re too right, they’re too easy on politicians or too hard, you can’t win. I’m sick of that sort of rhetoric. I think that’s been mainly influenced by social media – everyone jumps on board the bandwagon, like sheep.”
Last year, she married colleague Andrew Saville – he remains at TVNZ as a sports reporter and host of the sports news on 1News at Six.
Castles is looking forward to spending more time with Saville in Auckland, now that she’s not required to be in Northland for work all the time.
She has kept a home up north. “It’s my piece of paradise. I live right by the beach. It’s a really good community feel up there as well.”
She has also set up a new company, Castles Communications.“I do it all, public relations, communications, consultancy, filming for websites, social media.”
She already has some clients, including Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust.
Castles paid tribute to her boss at TVNZ, Sharon Fergusson, who has also left the organisation. “I think everyone’s had a cry on Sharon’s shoulder at some point. She was like a camp mum and friend as well as a boss.”
Castles says she’ll look back fondly on her time at TVNZ. “A lot has happened over time at TVNZ, I met my husband there, so you can’t write that off, right? My children started and finished school while I was there, I went through a divorce and a marriage all at TVNZ!”
She says her time in journalism has been fun.
“Most journalists are not in it for the money. You’re in it because you love the job. And I’d like to think that I also made a bit of a difference, in getting people’s stories out there – people who didn’t have a voice. That’s particularly important in areas like Northland, which has always been a bit hard done by, with the likes of its infrastructure. People up there have learned to be resilient.”
Another of television news’ most respected and familiar faces has also departed TVNZ as part of the state broadcaster’s cutbacks.
“I am off on a new adventure,” Nicole Bremner told Media Insider over a cup of tea last week.
Bremner has been reporting for more than 25 years, starting out at TV3 before shifting to TVNZ in the late 1990s. “I always looked at them as the big kids down the road – it was a bit intimidating going into that big newsroom.”
She’s worked alongside some of the biggest and best names in television journalism at both organisations – she and Hilary Pankhurst (now Barry) first worked alongside each other at 3 News in Auckland. At TVNZ she joined a formidable team of reporters including Lorelei Mason, the late John Stewart, Jodi Ihaka and Maramena Roderick – TVNZ’s first female Europe correspondent.
Bremner spent a year as a senior communications specialist for the Heart Foundation in 2011, but other than that, her own heart has been in journalism. In recent years, she has built a strong reputation as TVNZ’s health reporting specialist.
“There are things I will miss – my good mates and a lot of camaraderie. I will miss the people you meet. It’s a real privilege to be able to share their experiences and what’s happened to them.”
In recent years, she was part of the TVNZ team that covered Cyclone Gabrielle and – alongside the likes of Barbara Dreaver – brought news of the Manawanui sinking in Samoa last year.
With her storytelling and communications experience, Bremner is in good stead – she says she is taking some “time out” and exploring a range of new career options outside media.
She has nothing but empathy for people who have lost their roles, in media and beyond. On the day we caught up, more than 200 job losses had been announced at the Kinleith paper mill.
Aside from her catalogue of important stories, Bremner has also covered multiple royal tours, including Meghan and Harry’s trip to Fiji in 2018, and sporting victory parades.
She’s also had some lighthearted moments, most memorably a live cross from Te Awamutu during the Covid pandemic in 2021.
As she spoke live to 6pm host Simon Dallow, all hell was breaking loose behind her – a boy-racer revving their engine, a noisy milk tanker and shortly afterwards, emergency sirens.
She continued, without missing a beat, to inform viewers of news of the latest Covid lockdown and boundary rules.
“An unflappable Nicole Bremner in Te Awamutu,” Dallow said, back in the studio.
The clip went viral.
Bremner said afterwards: “It’s good to give people a laugh and have a laugh.
“I’ve had so many texts from people, one from my mate who’s from Te Awamutu saying, ‘Boy, that’s my hometown and it’s never been busier.’
“My cameraman and I laughed all the way home.”
It all happened so long ago that the Australians were actually the holders of rugby’s Bledisloe Cup. And in terms of brand exposure, it’s a stunt unlikely to be repeated in the modern era.
A New Zealand man who streaked during a Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney in 2002 has bared all – detailing the marketing madness behind the stunt – and says streaking at sports events is now getting out of hand.
Aaron Bain, who was 25 at the time, looks back on his own streak – he had the Vodafone logo painted on his back and stomach, all with the knowledge and support of the phone company – as amusing.
“It’s funny because we didn’t upset the game or anything,” he told Media Insider, a comment that might be debated by many given Andrew Mehrtens was preparing for a penalty kick – and missed.
The Wallabies eventually won the match 16-14, to retain the Bledisloe Cup.
Regardless, Bain says streaking has now “gone beyond a joke”.
At Eden Park on Saturday night, the Blues-Chiefs Super Rugby game was interrupted by several streakers, one of whom managed to join the Chiefs backline. The game was stopped at one stage while security officers dealt with the pitch invaders.
“When you get multiple people doing it, it’s just ruining the game,” says Bain.
He was fined $200 for entering the playing field and $500 for behaving in an unruly manner after his streak at Homebush Stadium 22 years ago.
“I actually ran up to the security guard in the end and let him take me off the field because it was really lonely out there, and when you’re in front of 78,000 people for 48 seconds naked you become self-conscious.”
Bain told Newstalk ZB’s Matt Heath and Tyler Adams this week that his fellow streaker, Brett Mutton, was arrested, spent the night in a police cell and was later charged and convicted because he did not give police his name.
At the time, there was much speculation about what Vodafone did and didn’t know about the stunt.
Mutton made out that it was an idea he’d taken to Vodafone, and that the phone company had agreed to pay any fines copped by the pair.
But Bain said it was all organised through Vodafone’s promotions company and was designed to promote its new PXT service.
“We didn’t want to get them in trouble at the time,” Bain told Media Insider.
His then-girlfriend had a flatmate who worked for the promotions company. Vodafone paid his fines, he said, and gave him $1000 for the stunt. That included a bonus for appearing on television.
These days, of course, TV camera operators, producers and commentators purposely avoid any images or mentions of streakers.
And there’s simply no way a major corporate would risk its brand with a similar stunt, especially as anger mounts over the disruption to matches.
In a statement this week, Eden Park chief executive Nick Sautner said pitch invaders would be immediately removed and issued with a trespass notice.
“We take the safety of everyone who attends an event at Eden Park, including the players, extremely seriously. Because we don’t know what the person’s intention is when they unlawfully enter the field during a match, it is Eden Park’s policy to stop the person as soon as is practicable and reduce the risk to the players.”
There have been calls from some quarters for heavier fines and penalties but the Government has said it is not a priority.
“I really do think they need to up the ante to deter people from doing it,” says Bain, who lives and works in New Zealand again. He was on the job yesterday, crushing gravel in the South Island’s Mackenzie Country.
“Especially when you’re getting four or five people doing it at a game – it’s just ruining the game, isn’t it?”
Sky TV announces its interim financial results this morning - there will be much interest in what chief executive Sophie Moloney has to say about the company’s problems with the failing Optus satellite, its move to a new satellite, and the technical response to its customers on the ground. The company has not had a good time of it, with thousands of complaints.
Meanwhile, we should hear an update on the company’s negotiations to renew the TV rugby rights deal for another five years.
This week, Sky announced it was increasing the cost of its Sky Sport Now service, with a monthly pass rising from $49.99 to $54.99 and an annual pass from $499.99 to $549.99.
It was a somewhat bold announcement with everything else going on for Sky, and with the faint possibility it might not even have New Zealand rugby rights this time next year.
Congratulations to Jack Tame and Mava Moayyed – the broadcasting couple have welcomed a baby boy, a brother for Rumi.
“Our whānau is delighted at the arrival of our son,” Tame told Media Insider via a text message.
“It’s been a wild few days but he and mum are both doing really well and he has inherited his father’s keen appetite. We’re so grateful to all of the Te Whatu Ora and Birthcare staff.
“We’re down to a final shortlist on the name front and promise to take ‘Shayne’ into consideration!”
Peter Williams was a familiar face for decades on New Zealand television screens, as a TVNZ sports host and newsreader.
He departed TVNZ in 2018 and has popped up more recently as a host for Reality Check Radio. His time there appears to have come to an end – in fact, he was bemoaning over the summer break the lack of any substantial new content on the network and other stations during the holidays.
He has certainly become a political beast in his post-broadcasting career. He now runs his own Substack newsletter – offering his thoughts on all manner of political issues – and last week, he submitted to Parliament’s justice select committee on the Treaty Principles Bill.
He is, perhaps unsurprisingly, supportive of Act leader David Seymour’s bill.
“We are a nation of immigrants,” Williams told the select committee.
“Like others whose ancestors landed on these shores from far-off places over time from the 13th to the 21st century, I know no other nation I could call my home.
“Yes, a saliva test taken through Ancestry.com says I am 91% Scottish. But that’s patently ridiculous. I should be graded 100% New Zealander.
“Or if you like to be colloquial, full-blooded Kiwi.
“I am tangata whenua. This is my land. I am privileged to share it with more than five million other Kiwis.”
On his Substack platform later that day, Williams pondered on his appearance.
“I doubt what I said will make a blind bit of difference. But I feel better for having done it.”
He says he’s open to being challenged on anything he says, and he couldn’t help but take a swing at some of the politicians.
“The National Party is scared of Māori interests,” Williams said.
“In the time I was online, their MPs looked as if they would prefer to be anywhere but in front of their computer screens. The only ones who showed any animation were [Takuta] Ferris and [Steve] Abel, especially when they were listening to the submitters opposed to the bill.
“The bill will be thrown out. But the issue will not go away. David Seymour has done the nation a major favour by getting us to talk about the matter.“It’s time the National and Labour parties faced up to a few realities of the culture war.”
The media, marketing and advertising worlds continue to throw up a raft of stories and issues.
Editor-at-large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including managing editor, NZ Herald editor and Herald on Sunday editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
Sky has lowered its revenue and Ebitda guidance for the full year.