Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and New Zealand media company Stuff have signed a deal which will see Stuff produce a 6pm news bulletin for Three.
However, the agreement does not mean a reversal of last week’s confirmation of WBD’s plan to close its inhouse news gathering operation, Newshub, with the loss of nearly 200 jobs.
The deal means WBD is outsourcing production of its 6pm bulletin to Stuff, which already runs the country’s largest news website, and publishes several daily and weekly newspapers including The Waikato Times, The Press and The Post.
Commercial details of the agreement, including how much WBD will pay Stuff to produce the nightly bulletin, are being kept under wraps.
There is also no word on who would present the bulletin or if Stuff will hire any of the people set to lose their jobs at Newshub. As part of the deal, Stuff would take ownership of Newshub.co.nz.
The first bulletin will be produced on Saturday July 6, one day after the final Newshub broadcast. The new broadcast will not be called Newshub.
Stuff owner and publisher Sinead Boucher said the proposal would deliver high-quality news now and a news product for the future. "We will look to innovate not replicate the 6 o’clock news," she said.
The programme would run for an hour on weeknights, and half an hour on weekends.
WBD's Senior Vice President and Head of Networks Glen Kyne said Stuff offered the most compelling option for the daily bulletin, as well as strong editorial and cultural alignment.
He said WBD had received several proposals since announcing plans to close Newshub on February 28.
These included one from a group of senior Newshub reporters, who proposed a slimmed down Newshub bulletin produced inhouse. Kyne said that proposal was weighed equally against all external option, including Stuff's.
