Would bet Spark/TVNZ outbid them.
In regards to the announcement, that’s a massive acquisition for Spark. Rugby and cricket are probably Sky’s 2 main sports so to lose home rights for one of them is a significant blow for them
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Sky shares have dropped 20% today on the ASX and the NZX on the back of the cricket news
NZ Herald are reporting sky will retain the rugby
8:30 tonight on Prime, Making NZ looks at broadcasting…
“Hear the incredible stories of how our nation was built from the ground up. This episode looks at broadcasting in NZ from its beginning in radio through to the digital future.”
Though be warned, Making NZ tends to gloss over a lot to fit the 40min running time, so anticipate inaccuracies, omissions and resist the urge to throw the remote at the tele.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/116553130/sky-confirms-it-has-won-the-broadcasting-rights-for-rugby
NZ Rugby owning a small share in Sky is interesting.
It’s almost a form of security
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Series getting chopped and slashed on Mediaworks. 7 Days cut to 12 episodes from 32 episodes in 2020 and NZ Today cancelled. MAFS NZ on the chopping block.
12 eps… wonder when they screen. If it’s before Easter, could it signal a format change for the network?
They said they are going to air them in the later half of the 2020 year in time for the US and NZ elections.
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Really odd decision to reduce 7 days, Doesn’t rate too badly and really seemed to be a flagship for Three. NZ Today is a little different as its only into its first season and while I loved the segments on Jono and Ben I think the series stretched the stories for too long. No doubt they will replace it with overseas shows no one will watch and Three will surrender what has been a successful night for them.
As the article below points out 7 days or NZ Today weren’t shows that mediaworks ever had to pay the full cost to produce.
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Perhaps this is the intention of the axings…
Jesse Mulligan (on behalf of his commercial bosses) currently on The Project doing another mediaworks anti TVNZ editorial and blaming the government for letting TVNZ operate how it currently does. There were also suggestions that Three may have to shut up down leaving only TVNZ.
Quite sick of this approach Mediaworks is taking and correct me if I am wrong but Three/TV3 as a channel has never succeeded as a profitable commercial venture. Perhaps if anyone had any business sense at Mediaworks they may have closed the TV side of the business by now.
Mulligan is being hypocritical considering his other day job involves him working at … the publicly-funded Radio New Zealand
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I’m pretty sure it made slight profits in the mid 2000’s, if memory serves… possibly on the back of the Rugby World Cup coverage, Bathurst, etc. and TVNZ’s charter-induced meltdown… but I could be remembering things quite wrongly!
But yeah, I quite agree, MW’s constant moaning isn’t the way forward. They need to make positive moves, talk to the other TV companies (Remember Choice? now there’s an oily-rag kind of channel). Team up, like I said many posts ago, reduce the number of channels (esp duplicate programming) and take TVNZ on with some serious gusto.
Quite frankly, the only thing I regularly watch on TV3 these days is the news. The rest just isn’t worth tuning in for.
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Andrew Szusterman is a big fan of 7 Days. I bet he’ll be relieved he was out the door before today’s news. Axing MAFS, The Block or any of Three’s reality imports wouldn’t surprise me but 7 Days is a massive part of its whole brand. And it’s (partly) NZ On air funded…
I’m guessing the hideously expensive Project will be next on the chopping block? If not then why not?
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Please tell, what was TVNZ’s charter-induced meltdown?
That’s one thing that has always bugged me about channels here in NZ, so many duplicate shows on so many networks. Sky are terrible with it. On prime for example you have Jeopardy then WOF Then flick over to Sky 5 and it’s WOF Then Jeopardy. Sky 5 with the simpsons and then tvnz with the simpsons on 2 and duke, just a few examples.
In my opinion on all available channels in NZ, if you’re not a news watcher, there is nothing but garbage on each channel between 6-7pm
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The Govt forced upon them a charter in the mid 2000’s (still in the analogue days) so they had to run a bit more like the ABC, rather than a pure-bred Commercial operation. It didn’t rate and it didn’t fit the psychology of TVNZ exec’s and much of the staff.
TVNZ (was it Bill Ralston then?) also experimented a bit with their news bulletin (the garish orange news-desk springs to mind), which turned viewers off (and on to 3 News).
They fixed the news reasonable quickly, and once the Charter was scrapped, they returned to their full-time Commercial roots and haven’t looked back (i.e. spent millions on a fancy atrium, hocked off land to the casino, and put their weight into digital). I have a feeling hoodwinking the Govt into giving them money for two non-commercial channels digital-only channels was part of the compromise for ditching the Charter, but can’t remember for sure.
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The orange garish look? Was never garish, nana and gdad just couldn’t adopt to radical change clearly.
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Ahhh!
Why did the NZ government setup TVNZ to be a government-backed commercial operator as opposed to be a BBC/ABC-style public broadcaster?
