Warner Bros. Discovery Shuts Down Newshub, Leaving Media Landscape in Flux

Warner Bros. Discovery has officially announced the closure of Newshub, a prominent news operation in New Zealand. As part of a broader restructuring of its free-to-air television business in the country, nearly 300 roles will be eliminated. Newshub’s last day of operation is set for July 5. The news was delivered to staff during a meeting in Auckland, with employees from the Wellington and Christchurch newsrooms joining via video link. This decision marks the end of nearly 35 years of news broadcasts on Three, and it also means the closure of Newshub’s online platform.

Approximately 200 journalists, producers, editors, camera operators, and other associated staff members will lose their jobs due to this move. The impact of this decision is significant, as it would leave state-owned TVNZ with a near-monopoly on TV news production in New Zealand. Additionally, dozens of other Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) staff members in New Zealand will also face redundancy.

The economic challenges faced by the media industry played a crucial role in this decision. In 2023 alone, $74 million disappeared from broadcast TV advertising in New Zealand, marking the largest year-on-year drop in three decades. The decline in advertising revenue on free-to-air television has made Newshub’s operations unsustainable. Glen Kyne, Senior Vice President and Head of Networks for Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ, acknowledged the difficulty of this restructuring process. He emphasized that while the downturn has been severe, the expected bounce-back did not materialize.

The closure of Newshub raises concerns about media plurality in New Zealand. With just one remaining TV news operation (state-owned TVNZ), the country faces an ongoing issue until a solution is found. Although reports suggest that WBD NZ may consider outsourcing production of a 6pm news bulletin for Three and ThreeNow, no final deal regarding news output has been made at this time