Media Insider: TV star Wairangi Koopu and the drugs charges; Stripe Media liquidator: ‘The director has not been located’

Wairangi Koopu on Celebrity Treasure Island. Photo / Matt Klitscher

TVNZ says it changed ‘some of our publicity efforts’ for Te Matatini series hosted by freelance broadcaster Wairangi Koopu, who will defend drugs charges in 2027; Liquidator’s short and not-so-sweet report on Stripe Media; Is there another NZME power play in the wind? The independent media agency looking to give over-50s a leg up.

Television personality and former rugby league star Wairangi Koopu will defend serious drugs charges in 2027 after appearing in court in October. But TVNZ was unaware of the charges until “late last year”, with its PR department pitching Koopu to media as late as December as a potential interview subject to discuss his new independently produced TVNZ+ series that he was hosting in February.

The case raises interesting questions over the balance between Koopu’s right to a fair trial and the right of any employer or contractor of services to know if someone is facing court charges, even if they have name suppression.

Koopu’s name suppression lifted this week – he has been charged with possessing cocaine for supply, participating in an organised criminal group and conspiring to deal with a Class A drug. The charges carry a penalty of up to 14 years in jail.

Koopu – who played 159 games for the Warriors, 12 games for the Melbourne Storm and three tests for the Kiwis – has pleaded not guilty, with a trial set down for 10 weeks starting in June 2027.

Wairangi Koopu walks into the Hamilton District Court during an appearance last year. Photo / Belinda Feek

Post-rugby league, the 44-year-old has fashioned a television career and describes himself on LinkedIn as a freelance broadcaster.

He has been a freelance reporter and occasional presenter on Sky’s now twice-weekly show The Crowd Goes Wild since 2021, but has not been seen on the programme since November.

Sky declined to respond to questions about what it knew about Koopu’s charges, and when.

Koopu also appeared on TVNZ’s Celebrity Treasure Island last year, finishing eighth.

Just last month, TVNZ launched on its TVNZ+ digital channel the second season of The Road to Te Matatini, hosted by Koopu. The six-part series features Koopu travelling to different parts of New Zealand, interviewing iwi groups preparing for the biennial Te Matatini festival.

The show was independently produced for TVNZ and Koopu is not a staff member at the state broadcaster, but it was pitching him for publicity interviews for the series as late as December.

A TVNZ spokeswoman said yesterday: “Production on The Road to Te Matatini took place mid last year.

“TVNZ was informed late last year that Wairangi Koopu was facing charges that he intended to defend.

“Given any determination by the court is some time away, we decided we would continue to show the programme, but changed some of our publicity efforts in line with the information we received.

“As this is a matter before the court, we don’t have any further comment to make.”

The rights of an employee and the employer

Koopu is understood to have been a freelancer for Sky, while the Te Matatini series was produced for TVNZ by an independent production company. So some of the normal obligations that would typically apply to a fulltime employee are unlikely to apply in this case.

Employment lawyer Charlotte Parkhill.

Employment lawyer Charlotte Parkhill, speaking generally, said cases involving high-profile figures where reputation issues were at stake for both them and their employer raised interesting questions.

“The short answer is the presumption of innocence does create a problem for an employer, unless they can carry out their own investigation,” said Parkhill, a partner at Dentons Kensington Swan.

But that would be difficult, given that an employee had the right against self-incrimination.

“It’s quite difficult for an employer to take action on the basis of the charges themselves until such time as there’s been a decision by the jury, if it goes to a defended trial.

“Employers will sometimes engage with an employee and see how they go. If the employee says, ‘yeah, look, I did it’ or ‘I didn’t do it’, they can do a sort of quasi-investigation and make some decisions. But if the employee refuses to engage and lawyers up, as they usually do, then maybe they get suspended pending the outcome of the trial.”

If someone was a high-profile face of the company, such as a TV or radio star, that would also play into the decision-making around suspension and could well be a reasonable decision, given reputational issues.

“To terminate just because they’ve been charged with something would be very difficult if they’re pleading not guilty unless you can find out something about the facts that support a termination decision.

“The fact of being charged is just not enough, although [some employers] might take a hard line on it.”

Is an employee obliged to tell their employer they have been charged?

“It’s often in the employment agreement,” she says. “Certainly our templates have that.”

Absent a contractual obligation, it was a “very interesting” question.

If a person was in a high-profile role but had pleaded not guilty and had name suppression, there might be an argument that the employee was breaching name suppression if they raised it with their bosses.

“The obligation to disclose that you’ve been charged with a crime if you’re pleading not guilty would be far less significant than if you were pleading guilty, that’s for sure. If you were pleading guilty, you’d have to say.

“Presumption of innocence trumps everything.”

The battle for the NZME board

In case you missed it, an influential NZME shareholder says he backs billionaire Jim Grenon’s bid for a seat on the media company’s board but also wants to see chief executive Michael Boggs there – and would be comfortable if NZME needs to increase its overall number of directors from five to eight.

Australian shareholder and media analyst Roger Colman spent the day in New Zealand on Wednesday, meeting Grenon and the Auckland-based businessman’s three other NZME board nominees, Philip Crump, Des Gittings and Simon West, for almost two hours.

Colman also visited NZME’s headquarters in central Auckland to see NZME chairwoman Barbara Chapman and at least two current board members, Guy Horrocks and Sussan Turner.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Speculation persists that a group of well-heeled businesspeople are considering coming up with an offer for NZME ahead of the April 29 annual shareholders’ meeting. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Is there another NZME power play to come?

Is there another big power play to unfold in the ownership stakes of NZME?

Speculation persists that a group of well-heeled businesspeople are considering coming up with an offer, ahead of the critical annual shareholders’ meeting on April 29 in which businessman and shareholder Jim Grenon is seeking a seat on the media company’s board, along with three other nominees.

The name that keeps coming to the top of the contenders for a potential counter-move is Zuru co-founder and billionaire Nick Mowbray.

His name was originally linked to a potential privatisation move of the company in a speculative piece in The Australian last month. At the time, he told Media Insider that this was “news to me”. The Herald, he said then, was the fairest of New Zealand media outlets, amid debate over its editorial direction and output.

I called and messaged Mowbray last week to ask about a potential counter-move. He texted back to say that he had “nothing on my side for you at this stage”.

And again this week, when I followed up: “Nothing my side to add.”

Alex Breingan’s LA story

The latest liquidator’s report into the failed screen production company Stripe Media is short but not-so-sweet for creditors.

“No assets of value or funds have been recovered, the director has not been located and a statement of affairs has not been received,” says the liquidator’s six-monthly report into Stripe Media Ltd, released this week.

The Official Assignee liquidator wrote that BDO, which was appointed receiver in March last year, was continuing its investigations into the affairs of the company.

Those investigations are running adjacent to an inquiry by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) business registry team, and the Film Commission passing on information to the Serious Fraud Office.

Stripe Studios managing director Alex Breingan. Photo / Doug Sherring

And while the Official Assignee says it can’t locate Stripe Media founder and managing director Alex Breingan, a clue to his whereabouts might lie in Tinseltown.

It is understood Breingan, who is still listed as the owner of a home just north of Auckland, is now living in California.

It is understood he has links to Los Angeles-based Darci Penn who has a biography on the movie industry website IMDB.

“Darci Penn is an aspiring writer currently working on developing a script that blends her love for reality TV and romantic comedy,” says the biography.

“A proud mom living in California, Darci has a unique ability to juggle the demands of family life with her passion for writing, often finding time to write in the quiet moments of her busy day. Writing has always been a creative outlet for her, and it is through this craft that she channels her experiences, observations, and love for entertainment.”

Breingan is the managing director of Auckland-based Stripe Media, which – along with 12 related companies – has been placed in receivership.

Creditors of the companies – including Kiwibank, financing firm Fulcrum Media Finance and American TV stars David Hasselhoff and Iliza Shlesinger – are owed more than $20 million and the receiver claims its investigations have uncovered “irregularities” in the company’s finances.

Hasselhoff and Shelsinger filmed separate travel series for Stripe in New Zealand in 2023 but the shows have been held up in post-production following Stripe’s financial issues and they now face an uncertain future.

A promotion for David Hasselhoff's and Rhys Darby's Kiwi TV series that was produced by Stripe Media but has yet to see the light of day.

The receiver says the alleged “irregularities” have been referred to “relevant authorities” – this follows the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) referring its own concerns about Stripe to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2023.

The SFO has confirmed it received a complaint from the NZFC but has refused to say whether it is investigating any matters in relation to Stripe.

MBIE business registries national manager Bolen Ng told Media Insider yesterday: “MBIE is assessing whether Mr Breingan meets the criteria for prohibition from being a director of or managing a company under section 385 of the Companies Act 1993.”

The Official Assignee wrote this week that the liquidation of Stripe Media was now set to be completed on May 24, an extended timeframe as an earlier date was deemed impractical.

Among the creditors listed for this particular company is the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) as a preferential creditor for $117,158.34 and as an unsecured creditor for $31,478.66. Secured creditors listed are Kiwibank and Prospa Pty – there are no listed sums next to their names.

The expected dividend for these creditors is currently listed as zero cents in the dollar.

Advertising’s big merger moves ahead

Shareholders of two of the world’s biggest advertising firms, Omnicom (OMG) and IPG, have this week approved the marriage of the two rivals.

OMG’s $US13 billion ($22.45b) acquisition of IPG is expected to take place in the second half of the year, subject to approval from regulatory bodies in 19 countries, including New Zealand’s Commerce Commission.

The two companies have already presented their case for the merger in a 49-page application to the commission, arguing the advertising sector is intensely competitive and smaller New Zealand agencies will always have the talent and ability to successfully pitch for work.

But independent agencies are sounding warning bells about the impact of what would become the world’s largest advertising network.

In New Zealand, major OMG brands such as PHD, OMD, Colenso, DDB, Clemenger, TBWA, Hearts & Science and Dynamo would be housed under the same umbrella as IPG agencies such as FCB and Initiative.

The work of Kiwi creatives in global advertising firms has been world-class, including campaigns such as "Ghost Chips", "Driving Dogs" and "Togs, Undies".

“Its impact is likely to be particularly pronounced in New Zealand, where our market is already highly concentrated,” says the New Zealand director of independent media agency Art of the Possible, Adam Brami.

“We’re looking at an unprecedented level of consolidation. While this might drive efficiencies, it raises critical questions about competition, conflicts of interest, homogenisation, pricing and whether this will stifle the very ingenuity that has set New Zealand apart on the global creative stage.”

He said the “biggest red flag” was the consolidation of many top-spending brands and clients under one parent.

“As agencies within the same group handle direct competitors (eg BNZ and ANZ, AA Insurance and IAG, Foodstuffs and The Warehouse, Spark, One NZ and 2degrees), clients may naturally question whether their agency can truly prioritise their unique business needs.”

Even with internal safeguards and separation policies in place, clients might “feel uneasy knowing their competitor’s agency is reporting to the same corporate leadership”.

“Would a holding company prioritise client success or its own financial interests? If a conflict arises, whose business is deemed more valuable?”

The merger could also make it tougher for independent agencies to compete and may ultimately impact the diversity of creative thinking in the market as agencies within the same group lean on shared frameworks, tech stacks and methodologies – all repackaged as bespoke solutions, but essentially the same at their core, he suggested.

Brami said a more concentrated market might also weaken advertisers’ negotiating power. “The merger would see four of the five larger New Zealand agencies under one umbrella holding company. If fewer large competitors exist to offer viable alternatives, pricing power may shift in favour of the holding companies. Clients could see higher fees, less transparency in media allocation and fewer options to challenge agency recommendations.”

OMG’s application to the commission gives a rundown of other international agencies operating in New Zealand, smaller independent agencies and operators, their clients, and even some of their talent.

It says it and IPG face “significant competitive pressure” from international agencies and agency networks, particularly WPP, Publicis, Dentsu, Havas and Special Group “as well as from numerous regional and local agencies in New Zealand”.

“It is an industry that values creativity of individuals as opposed to an agency’s scale, meaning local agencies are often successful in winning and retaining clients against large international agencies.”

The planned Omnicom-IPG merger has led to speculation of likely job cuts and other cost efficiencies for those in the new-look company. The two companies are planning savings of up to $1.22b globally.

“With this level of consolidation, redundancies may be inevitable,” says Brami.

“If overheads are slashed as a result of this merger, senior talent may be the first to go – either because they’re deemed too expensive or because their deep expertise doesn’t fit the efficiency-driven, scaleable model that holding companies tend to prioritise.”

Which is a segue to another issue that Brami raises ...

Art of the Possible New Zealand director Adam Brami.

The age of ad agency staff

“For years, agency networks have quietly moved on senior talent as they reach a tenure or age where they are deemed ‘unsustainable’ from a cost perspective,” says Brami, who has recently become the New Zealand director of Art of the Possible, an independent marketing and media agency with other international posts.

“Walk the corridors of any major holding company agency and you’ll struggle to find many over-50s, if any, other than perhaps the odd CEO. Despite having decades of experience, industry veterans are often moved on in favour of younger, lower-cost talent.”

Brami said advertising agencies prioritised “a youth-driven culture, branding themselves as fresh and cutting-edge, which often sidelines older employees”.

“Clients frequently seek ‘new thinking’, so agencies react as the perception is that younger staff members are more in touch with digital trends and fast-moving consumer behaviour. Many brands push for junior-heavy teams to cut costs, valuing trend-driven ideas over long-term strategy. Agencies chase shiny new objects – experimental creatives and disruption – often overlooking the deeper expertise that experienced professionals bring to brand-building and execution.”

He said this shift wasn’t just about keeping agencies “fresh” – it was about profitability.

“Junior-heavy teams are far more cost-effective for holding-company agencies, reducing salary expenses while maximising billable hours.”

He says his model offers New Zealand businesses an alternative approach.

“Rather than relying on fulltime staff allocated to projects based on availability, the model assembles bespoke teams of senior strategists, creatives, media and production specialists based on category expertise.

“I’m 45 years old and this move is about future-proofing my career – not just for myself, but for an entire generation of experts who too often find themselves on the wrong side of cost-cutting exercises. Rather than seeing experience as a cost burden, I see it as an untapped asset.”

Shortland St staffing

As we reported earlier this week, Shortland Street cast and crew members are facing proposed changes.

The medical drama’s production company, South Pacific Pictures, “has entered into consultation with individuals who are part of the Shortland Street production and on permanent employment contracts”, TVNZ said in a statement on Tuesday.

Shortland Street now airs three days a week, following cutbacks in the production sector last year. Up until this year, the show, which started in 1992, had been screening five days a week.

A TVNZ spokesperson would not clarify the scope of the proposed changes, or who was impacted. “Given an employment process is under way, out of respect for individuals’ privacy we won’t be commenting further. We would like to acknowledge the impact these changes have on people and how disruptive and upsetting it might be for some of the SPP team.”

One Good Poll

Movers and shakers

Some significant moves within the Kiwi advertising industry this week.

Two New Zealand independent agencies, Thompson Spencer and Reason, have announced their merger to form what they describe as one of the largest independent agency groups in the country, with 56 staff. Both agencies have operated for 15 years.

The newly merged business will be known as Thompson Spencer Group, with both the Reason and Thompson Spencer businesses operating in market under Melanie Spencer and Tim Pointer as co-CEOs.

“Most mergers happen when agencies need to consolidate to survive - this is the exact opposite with both businesses coming off the back of record-breaking years of growth despite the challenging economic environment,” said Spencer.

Thompson Spencer and Reason have come together; from left, Tim Pointer, Melanie Spencer, Wendy Thompson and Matt Rowe.

And Omnicom (OMG) has promoted Angela Spain, its GM of PR, OMG content New Zealand, to the role of managing director overseeing the group’s content offerings in the market – Fuse, Drum and Hearts & Science’s content team. The promotion comes on the back of Gina McKinnon moving fully into the role of OMG APAC content chief executive. She reports to Tony Harradine, the chief executive of OMG Asia Pacific.

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.