TVNZ jobs shake-up

An internal shake-up is underway at TVNZ with the surprise departure of programming general manager Annemarie Duff and the impending arrival of a new head of television.

After two highly volatile years in the job, Duff will leave the network at the end of the year to spend more time with her family.

Since Duff's appointment, TV1's audience share has fallen from 55 per cent to 37 per cent in its key demographic of viewers aged 25 to 54.

Current TVNZ programmer Jane Wilson will replace Duff as head programmer for TV1 and TV2, working under new head of television Jeff Latch, who starts with the network next month.

Latch - who spent more than a decade at TVNZ in sales before leaving to start his own television production company - replaces Stephen Smith, who resigned in June after the appointment of Rick Ellis as chief executive.

One of Latch's key roles will be to get TVNZ programmes and other content onto new and emerging platforms like mobile telephones.

When Duff started, one her first moves was to scrap the long-running system where one person was in charge of programming each channel - a system TVNZ claimed led to unnecessary competition between the two state channels. She also axed Sportscafe, Kim Hill's current affairs show Face to Face and introduced US drama and children's programming to TV1.