The heartbroken boss of Newshub and Warner Bros Discovery has spoken of a day he hopes to never repeat and revealed a grim four weeks that led to Wednesday’s proposal to close one of New Zealand’s biggest news operations, with the loss of 300 jobs.
Glen Kyne has given more details of the likely shows to stay - and those that will disappear - if the proposal to close Newshub on June 30 proceeds as expected.
As well as Three’s Newshub Live at 6pm, hosted by Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts, AM, hosted by Mel Chan-Green and Lloyd Burr; Paddy Gower Has Issues and Ryan Bridge’s planned 7pm show, it is understood that the 5.30pm news bulletin hosted by Eric Young on Sky TV’s free-to-air channel Sky Open is also in jeopardy.
It has been produced by Warner Bros Discovery up until now, using Newshub content - Sky says it is keen to explore how it might continue to deliver strong local news.
Meanwhile, Kyne indicated Three’s local entertainment shows such as Married at First Sight New Zealand, the second season of Traitors, hosted by Paul Henry and The Block New Zealand are all safe for this season. Kyne said all contractual obligations would be honoured.
However, any future such shows will likely need co-production or funding partners to proceed.
Kyne confirmed about 75 per cent of staff - about 300 staff - were affected by Wednesday’s proposal.
If it goes ahead, that would leave 50-100 staff at a slimmed-down business heavily focused on ThreeNow as a core platform, supported by linear TV channels.
Industry experts believe terrestrial, linear channels might be around for only three to four more years as audiences increasingly move to streaming and digital platforms.
Once Newshub closes, most of the content left on Three is likely to be foreign shows.
Kyne revealed the proposal to close Newshub came in late January after he returned from summer leave and he received a call from Warner Bros Discovery APAC president James Gibbons, who was also in front of staff today to announce the plan.
“He informed me that this was an option that the company wanted us to consider. There was an evaluation process undertaken for a couple of weeks. That was circulated around global senior leadership at Warner Bros Discovery and approximately two and a half weeks ago, that was moved from an evaluation phase to a consultation and proposal phase,” he said.
“We have spent the last couple of weeks preparing for that at great speed, the culmination of which has been today.”
The company has yet to release its 2023 financial results but Kyne confirmed its position - it lost $35 million in 2022 and $21m in 2021 - had not improved.
He would not outline the specific cost of the newsroom operation - but it runs into the millions.
Asked if he had sought any support from other media or potential partners to try to save Newshub or any of its talent and programming in the last four weeks, he said any such discussions would unfold from here.
“What was also important today was to be able to help avail ourselves of those other conversations and opportunities that might be in the market. And so I fully expect to have a lot of feedback and conversations, not just from our people, but from external third parties over the coming days and weeks.”
A buyout - such as one that saw Sinead Boucher buy Stuff for $1 from Nine in Australia almost four years ago - is an option, but it seems highly unlikely given the company is running at a massive loss.
Kyne said he did not want to put out any “false hope” to his people.
“We have to be clear with them about the facts of the market and why we’ve made the decision we have made - that we can’t find a way on our own to be viable. But of course, if there’s an opportunity for a discussion, my phone is on, I’m all ears and we will have every single one of those conversations. That’s my commitment to our people.”
Some of Newshub’s shows - such as Newshub Nation and The Hui - are funded by NZ On Air, but even that might not be enough to save them.
Kyne said a lot of the heavy lifting, editorially, for those shows came from the Newshub newsroom.
And with no newsroom under the proposal, “we may have to be innovative and consider how we might do that and whether we can do that. Or whether we need to partner with others to do that. We’d be open to that”.
Kyne spoke directly to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about half an hour before the all-staff meeting at 11am on Wednesday.
“He was very empathetic to our people. I wanted him to hear directly from me, rather than hear any speculation and also didn’t want any surprises. He understood the commercial narrative of why. His primary focus though was care for our people today.”
Warner Bros Discovery was in front of a parliamentary select committee less than two weeks ago, urging the Government to pass the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which would force the likes of Google and Meta to actually pay for the journalism and content that drives their profitable business models.
“I think everything we’ve talked about with the Government, whether it be the Fair Digital Bargaining [Bill], our posturing for Kordia [transmission costs] relief, the review of the Broadcasting Act... we think that they are all critical and overdue for the sector,” Kyne said.
A large part of the proposal to close Newshub was a result of the market settings today, he said, although he did not think a solution to any one of those particular three issues would change the outcome.
Kyne painted a challenging economic landscape that had seen the industry endure a pandemic, a recovery of sorts in 2021, but then global economic challenges the following year.
Since mid-2022, he said, about $100m had come out of the local TV advertising market. “That’s roughly 20 per cent of the entire market gone.
“So any one thing around digital bargaining would not be enough to really offset the devastating economic impact of what’s happened.”
It was hard to say what would happen if all three issues could have been resolved before now.
“This is an incredibly challenging day. But if nothing else, I do sincerely hope that there will be a strong national debate on what is the role of news media and journalism in New Zealand and more broadly, how the local media sector is going to sustain itself.
“Because this is devastating. This is a devastating impact for media and for journalism, but the problems don’t go away from today. And we need solutions.”
He couldn’t comment on the plight of other media companies in New Zealand but hoped the industry would unify and collectively work together on those solutions.
Kyne said he had made no decision on his own future.
“My priority is to work with the team. I’ve been with this business for a long time and I want to make sure that I can get everyone to work through the consultation process properly. I have deep care for these people.”
He said he would be talking to Sky on Thursday about the 5.30pm news that Newshub produces each weekday.
He confirmed if the proposal went ahead, there would be no news to provide, but Sky was an important strategic partner on a number of fronts. He wanted to talk to them first.
A Sky spokeswoman said: “As you discussed with Glen, we have an agreement with WBD [Warner Bros Discovery] for Newshub to produce our News First at 5.30pm bulletin. The consultation that WBD commenced with its Newshub team today may impact that arrangement, but we’ll need to await the outcome of that process before making any decisions. We’ll keep in close contact with Glen and his team on that.
“More generally, we know the importance of news to our customers and the importance of plurality of news voices in New Zealand and as a New Zealand broadcaster, we are keen to explore how we might continue to play our part in delivering strong local news.”
Kyne said a sunset of three to five years for linear television seemed still “broadly accurate”.
“Certainly our efforts are going to be focused around speeding up the transition to digital because that’s where the operating model can be most viable for us into the future.”
Kyne said he hoped to “never repeat this day”.
He paid tribute to the Newshub team - “talent of the highest calibre” - and the quality of their journalism.
“It’s a very difficult day for us all - it’s heartbreaking.”
A newspaper has been saved, paving the way for several similar deals for other towns.