Axe over Millionaire as TVNZ slashes budget

Nicole Bremner, Vicki Wilkinson-Baker, Lisa Glass, Owen Poland, Brent Fraser and Mike Hosking. Photos / Herald on Sunday, supplied

The future of TVNZ's Who Wants to be a Millionaire is hanging by a 50/50 lifeline.

The state broadcaster's $25 million budget cuts will hit local programmes and presenters hardest - and insiders say even high-rating shows such as Millionaire are not safe from the axe.

Familiar faces from One News also face the chop, with 11 journalists set to lose their jobs.

Emotions were running high on Thursday in the Auckland newsroom, where journalists demanded a meeting with TVNZ's chief executive, Rick Ellis.

Sources said Lisa Owen, supported by other senior reporters, questioned why managers weren't taking pay cuts, why the company was not considering a nine-day fortnight, and how the news operation could be sustained after two sets of redundancies in two years.

Breakfast and business reporting will be brutally chopped - at a time when news about business and the economy rates highly with viewers. And sources say there is only a 50/50 chance of the second series of Millionaire going ahead, despite TVNZ announcing in November that the show would feature in its new season's lineup.

The show was filmed on the Melbourne set, with the production company paying airfares for host Mike Hosking and about 60 contestants and their friends, as well as providing hotel accommodation for three days. Each of the 60 received A$60 ($73) for lunches and dinners.

Philip Smith of Great Southern Film and Television, the company that makes Millionaire, said the show's future was uncertain.

"It hasn't been commissioned yet, but it certainly hasn't been cancelled," he said.

Kristin Castle, whose $250,000 in prizes made her the show's biggest winner, said she had loved her time on the show and would be disappointed if it wasn't renewed. "Maybe they looked at the books and realised they'd spent more on airfares than prizes," she joked.

TVNZ this week announced that 3 per cent of local programming - about 100 hours' worth - was being cut as part of the broadcaster's company-wide plan to shave $25 million from its budget.

Greenstone Pictures' John Harris said he was concerned about the effect the cuts would have on the local television industry and saw the decision as a "backward step".

"It's going to stifle the independent industry," said Harris, whose company makes popular TVNZ shows The Zoo and Motorway Patrol.

Harris said he was meeting TVNZ in the coming week to discuss the future of Greenstone's programmes.

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said off-peak content would probably be the first victim of the cuts.

She refused to name the 17 affected news and current affairs staff but said most were from the Auckland newsroom. Sources say the jobs of Lisa Glass, Nicole Bremner and business reporter Owen Poland are at risk.

The Christchurch bureau has also been hit hard by the cuts, with Brent Fraser and Vicki Wilkinson-Baker's jobs thought to be in jeopardy. The bureau's five evening news reporter positions are being disestablished and the two, along with Lorelei Mason, Jack Tame and Julia Hilligan, have to reapply for four new positions.

Close Up producer Brett Solvander and morning business reporter Lisa Davies have also been said to have lost their positions, and Davies is likely to apply for one of the four 6pm positions.

Brent Fraser said he was concerned but had no idea how the next week would pan out.

Staff perks are also in the firing line: TVNZ will no longer pay for non-work-related taxi trips, cellphone bills are being capped, and clothing allowances audited.