I have always believed that Mediaworks will kill off Newshub if and when NZ On Air withdraw funding for Newshub Nation. Without that element of taxpayer funded content I struggle to see how this product would be viable.

The loss of Newshub would probably also prompt the closure of Magic Talk, which is something that I would expect to eventually occur anyway. The music stations could probably then source their news bulletins from a third party.

What next after that? Well, I always thought that Three could survive as a platform for taxpayer subsidised content but killing off programming like 7 Days would suggest that Michael Anderson has other ideas. Certainly the future of Three looks dire if they are just going to broadcast foreign sourced content, because then they are competing directly against more modern streaming services.

My gut feeling is that the current investors will want out pretty soon, and will be willing to slim down the business to get rid of it even if that means that they accept a significant capital loss on their investment.

oh boo hoo!,

Mediaworks gets plenty of government money for programmes via NZ on air,

This is part of a push to make themselves seem hard done by to push the Broadcasting Minister into making TVNZ ( or at least TV one) non commercial, thus pushing all those commercial advertisers into the arms of Mediaworks...

Mediaworks biggest problem is that it is owned by a corporate raider by the name of Oaktree, who are constantly on the lookout for a scheme to pump up its value so they can flick it and make some $$$, they have absolutely no concern for media in NZ, its a simple value proposition for them

If Newshub were to fold then Prime News would go with it as Sky contracts newshub to produce Prime News

There should be legislation banning shows such as MAFS based on moral decency.

A lot of this is probably posturing in light of the up-coming NZ-on Air funding model review.
I believe there has been no serious changes to this money allocation for 30 years.

Now with streaming channels/You Tube the landscape for video consumption has changed dramatically.

Yes maybe in the end TV3 will stop local production. This may not be a bad thing if the funding is allocated elsewhere

File 'Mediaworks' alongside 'Sky' in drawer labelled 'Things that used to be relevant.'

And seriously, can the demise of Married at First Sight be anything other than positive?

In the online space I think TVNZ, Mediaworks, Prime (Sky), Maori and RNZ should pool their resources somehow to have ONE platform with a single app developed by a parent company that is available to as many devices as feasible.  With the current iteration of the Freeview On Demand service on Dish TV devices there's one login and one interface to navigate to access all streamable content from TVNZ, Mediaworks and Maori TV.

If all the local broadcasters are fighting the international VOD corporates it seems bizarre they're fragmenting themselves even further with each app only available on certain devices because they individually don't have the resources to go big.

Groucho:

 

In the online space I think TVNZ, Mediaworks, Prime (Sky), Maori and RNZ should pool their resources somehow to have ONE platform with a single app developed by a parent company that is available to as many devices as feasible.  With the current iteration of the Freeview On Demand service on Dish TV devices there's one login and one interface to navigate to access all streamable content from TVNZ, Mediaworks and Maori TV.

 

If all the local broadcasters are fighting the international VOD corporates it seems bizarre they're fragmenting themselves even further with each app only available on certain devices because they individually don't have the resources to go big.

 

You mean like hulu? Seemed to work alright when I was using it, and offered a limited ads version which I think I only ever saw one ad on so didnt watch that show again.

JaseNZ:

 

There should be legislation banning shows such as MAFS based on moral decency.

 

Not sure about moral decency but banned for bringing the national intellect into doubt and causing widespread international embarrassment.

I think the fundamental problem is that they are chasing the wrong market.
Their 'target demographic' is 25-54, but this is the group least likely to watch linear TV, and most likely to watch streamed product.

So, which demographics are most likely to be "watching the telly" and therefore a less-rapidly-shrinking market?
Surely it's got to be the 55-65 group, with 50-55 and 65+ close behind. Coincidentally, the 55-70 "boomers" are I reckon also likely to have more disposable income than anyone except perhaps the 20-30 age group. A decent proportion of these boomers have seen off the kids and seen off the mortgage too, and are the 'richest' they've ever been and ever will be. They are still in paid work and retirement is a while away. $$$$$$.

Some of the 20-30 are as yet child and mortgage free and also have a significant amount of disposable income.

Just my $0.02

By the way, The Spinoff covered this story a whole day earlier: https://thespinoff.co.nz/tv/16-10-2019/mediaworks-werent-bluffing-nz-today-and-mafs-nz-are-canceled-7-days-faces-huge-cuts/ - Stuff are as quick off the mark as ever.

If TV3 cannot survive on its own merits then it should go the way of the Dodo.

The problem with chasing the older demographic is that they risk ending up in the same position as NZME's radio stations - an aging audience that is dying off, coupled with the of difficulties getting a new generation of audience to engage with a brand that they consider unfamiliar.

The 25-54 female group is traditionally considered to be the 'household shopper' demographic that advertisers want, which is why More FM and The Breeze have been so successful for Mediaworks. If the product is not connecting with the audience then they need to change the product, not the audience. 

richms:

 

Groucho:

 

In the online space I think TVNZ, Mediaworks, Prime (Sky), Maori and RNZ should pool their resources somehow to have ONE platform with a single app developed by a parent company that is available to as many devices as feasible.  With the current iteration of the Freeview On Demand service on Dish TV devices there's one login and one interface to navigate to access all streamable content from TVNZ, Mediaworks and Maori TV.

 

If all the local broadcasters are fighting the international VOD corporates it seems bizarre they're fragmenting themselves even further with each app only available on certain devices because they individually don't have the resources to go big.

 

 

You mean like hulu? Seemed to work alright when I was using it, and offered a limited ads version which I think I only ever saw one ad on so didnt watch that show again.

 

I hadn't thought of it that way as was coming to it from currently being free.  Not sure there's enough value-add or customer base (?) to justify a 'limited ads' or ad free model but could work.  If they loaded up some back catalogues of their own series which the taxpayer had already paid for once that would gain interest rather than dust on a shelf somewhere.  Shark in the Park was excellent ;-)

News reporting in NZ is already pretty poor, with many local paper local reporting disappearing, so losing a TV channel IMO is not good for NZ or democracy as a whole. TV3 has some good programs, eg Grand designs, , 7 days, and to be honest, I watch more TV3 programs than TVNZ. It is all very political though. I think we need RNZ to becme a BBC like broadcaster, paid for by taxpayers, and let the other FTA channels survive commercially on their own merits. Some of the pay-rates at these TV stations are huge.