The former head of news at Three expects the upcoming 6pm bulletin produced by Stuff set to replace Newshub will be a 'lite' product that will not match TVNZ's "in any way".
On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it had struck a deal with Stuff for a nightly TV bulletin following Newshub's closure on July 5.
Under the deal, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will keep the ad revenue and pay Stuff for the content.
But details are scarce. What it will be called, how many people will work on it and what studios it will use are among the factors yet to be finalised.
What is known is that most Newshub staff will still lose their jobs.
Mark Jennings, who was head of news at Three (formerly TV3) for 22 years, said the Stuff bulletin will be very different from Newshub.
"I don't think it's going to be a bulletin that's in any way going to match TVNZ's," Jennings told Newshub.
"We're going to see is a whole lot of work layered on to Stuff reporters who will probably be shooting videos with iPhones.
"If they were going to do what I would consider a full-on television news bulletin, they would be hiring most of Newshub's existing staff. Clearly they're not going to do that - so we're going to see a very 'news-lite' product."
But WBD ANZ head of Networks Glen Kyne said he is confident the arrangement is going to work.
"We wouldn't have entered into this arrangement if we didn't have confidence in Stuff's plan, and we do," Kyne said.
"But it's not entering into a traditional broadcast world - it's innovating from a digital environment and delivering that product for us to broadcast."
Stuff owner Sinead Boucher said Kiwis can expect to see all the news covered on the new 6pm bulletin that they would expect to see covered on a news bulletin.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon commented positively on the deal.
"To see a solution, a commercial decision and a commercial solution emerge like that is fantastic," he said.
But that solution confirms the end of Newshub.
The Spinoff founder Duncan Greive also urged Kiwi news audiences to temper expectations.
"While I am sure the product will be good and I think there are some great ideas wrapped up into it, the big loss for New Zealand is that culture of news, the work that Newshub and 3 News before it did over 35 years," Greive said.
Stuff and WBD now have less than 12 weeks to design, staff and fitout an hour-long daily news bulletin.
