28-02-2024, 02:53 PM
Idiocy; clearly not making them enough profit. And that last part in the link fron Spinoff is quite scary. 
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/28/newshu...m-in-june/
"Media company Newshub is to close its newsroom in New Zealand on June 30, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced, citing a dive in advertising revenue and “combination of negative events”.
The news was broken to staff this morning in an emergency meeting. All the jobs of presenters, journalists and production staff are likely to go, despite a two-week consultation process, to be confirmed by April.
The decision would mean the end of [i]Newshub [/i]at 6pm, [i]the AM Show,[/i] late news, [i]Paddy Gower has Issues[/i] and the proposed new 7pm current affairs show hosted by Ryan Bridge. It is unclear if [i]Newshub Nation[/i], the Sunday current affairs show funded by NZ on Air, could continue in some form.
The decision, if confirmed, could also impact Sky TV as Newshub has the contract to provide the Sky Open (formerly Prime) channel’s 5.30 pm bulletin daily."
Newshub is owned by global entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery which also owns eden, Rush, HGTV and Bravo.
Warner Bros Discovery sent out a press release this morning announcing the company would be closing “all Newshub’s multiplatform news operations and output”.
James Gibbons, President, Asia Pacific, Warner Bros. Discovery said it was not a proposal the business arrived at easily.
“We are acutely aware of our position in the local media landscape and what this means for our people, and for the country as a whole.
“There was no single trigger that caused this, rather it was a combination of negative events in New Zealand and globally. The impacts of the economic downturn have been severe, and the bounce back has not materialised as expected.”
“Everyone can see that the media sector, here in New Zealand, and around the world is facing some very tough circumstances. While Warner Bros. Discovery is a large global media company, each business is managed on its ability to sustain itself within the market it operates in. Subsidising losses for ongoing years indefinitely is not sustainable.”
In October 2023, Warner Bros Discovery announced it was axing The Project, its 7pm news and current affairs show.
The new show that was expected to replace The Project, hosted by former AM Show present Ryan Bridge, had yet to begin."
He noted that advertising revenue in New Zealand had disappeared far more quickly than the company could manage."
https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/28-02-202...ally-means
"The clues were all there, if you cared to look. The shuttering of popular 7pm show The Project late last year was followed by a cheaper, leaner show built around Ryan Bridge. That kept getting pushed back, over and over and over. The head of Newshub, Sarah Bristow, resigned around the same time – when her replacement came, he was only given an interim title. Watching ThreeNow lately, Newshub ads were more common than commercials – a clear indication that the ad market which funds the station was in dire shape.
Still, no one seemed to believe it. Two weeks ago I asked a former senior staffer at Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), Three’s parent company, whether there was any risk to Newshub, but they were adamant it was safe. That it was to do with a hiring freeze until the new financial year, or an ad market in the doldrums. That might even have been true – until it wasn’t.
Despite gains from Sky lately, TVNZ now has an enormous weight on its shoulders, propping up the whole free-to-air TV industry. Everyone from media buyers to the big ad agencies will be wrapping their heads around what their world looks like with a much-diminished Three.
Even more troubling is what it means for news, and the plurality of voices in our democracy. Once this proposal becomes reality, we’re hurtling towards the day when the only TV news for New Zealand will be owned by the government. We’ve become used to conspiratorial complaints from senior ministers about the quality of our media – but with the demise of Newshub, so goes the only major TV newsroom that is not ultimately owned by the government. This is not trivial – think about the tonal difference between RNZ and TVNZ’s political coverage and Newshub’s – we are now living in a world where the latter is just gone.
A country with government ownership of all its major broadcast news sounds a lot like an autocracy – that is something this decidedly media-averse coalition will have to absorb and respond to in the coming days. The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which is currently before select committee, already had a near-existential urgency to it; that has just escalated enormously."
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/28/newshu...m-in-june/
"Media company Newshub is to close its newsroom in New Zealand on June 30, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced, citing a dive in advertising revenue and “combination of negative events”.
The news was broken to staff this morning in an emergency meeting. All the jobs of presenters, journalists and production staff are likely to go, despite a two-week consultation process, to be confirmed by April.
The decision would mean the end of [i]Newshub [/i]at 6pm, [i]the AM Show,[/i] late news, [i]Paddy Gower has Issues[/i] and the proposed new 7pm current affairs show hosted by Ryan Bridge. It is unclear if [i]Newshub Nation[/i], the Sunday current affairs show funded by NZ on Air, could continue in some form.
The decision, if confirmed, could also impact Sky TV as Newshub has the contract to provide the Sky Open (formerly Prime) channel’s 5.30 pm bulletin daily."
Newshub is owned by global entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery which also owns eden, Rush, HGTV and Bravo.
Warner Bros Discovery sent out a press release this morning announcing the company would be closing “all Newshub’s multiplatform news operations and output”.
James Gibbons, President, Asia Pacific, Warner Bros. Discovery said it was not a proposal the business arrived at easily.
“We are acutely aware of our position in the local media landscape and what this means for our people, and for the country as a whole.
“There was no single trigger that caused this, rather it was a combination of negative events in New Zealand and globally. The impacts of the economic downturn have been severe, and the bounce back has not materialised as expected.”
“Everyone can see that the media sector, here in New Zealand, and around the world is facing some very tough circumstances. While Warner Bros. Discovery is a large global media company, each business is managed on its ability to sustain itself within the market it operates in. Subsidising losses for ongoing years indefinitely is not sustainable.”
In October 2023, Warner Bros Discovery announced it was axing The Project, its 7pm news and current affairs show.
The new show that was expected to replace The Project, hosted by former AM Show present Ryan Bridge, had yet to begin."
He noted that advertising revenue in New Zealand had disappeared far more quickly than the company could manage."
https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/28-02-202...ally-means
"The clues were all there, if you cared to look. The shuttering of popular 7pm show The Project late last year was followed by a cheaper, leaner show built around Ryan Bridge. That kept getting pushed back, over and over and over. The head of Newshub, Sarah Bristow, resigned around the same time – when her replacement came, he was only given an interim title. Watching ThreeNow lately, Newshub ads were more common than commercials – a clear indication that the ad market which funds the station was in dire shape.
Still, no one seemed to believe it. Two weeks ago I asked a former senior staffer at Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD), Three’s parent company, whether there was any risk to Newshub, but they were adamant it was safe. That it was to do with a hiring freeze until the new financial year, or an ad market in the doldrums. That might even have been true – until it wasn’t.
Despite gains from Sky lately, TVNZ now has an enormous weight on its shoulders, propping up the whole free-to-air TV industry. Everyone from media buyers to the big ad agencies will be wrapping their heads around what their world looks like with a much-diminished Three.
Even more troubling is what it means for news, and the plurality of voices in our democracy. Once this proposal becomes reality, we’re hurtling towards the day when the only TV news for New Zealand will be owned by the government. We’ve become used to conspiratorial complaints from senior ministers about the quality of our media – but with the demise of Newshub, so goes the only major TV newsroom that is not ultimately owned by the government. This is not trivial – think about the tonal difference between RNZ and TVNZ’s political coverage and Newshub’s – we are now living in a world where the latter is just gone.
A country with government ownership of all its major broadcast news sounds a lot like an autocracy – that is something this decidedly media-averse coalition will have to absorb and respond to in the coming days. The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, which is currently before select committee, already had a near-existential urgency to it; that has just escalated enormously."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)