February 29, 2024
Newshub woes signalled to previous government
Labour’s former broadcasting minister Willie Jackson says Warner Brothers-Discovery’s New Zealand operations have been in financial strife for some time.
The owner of TV3, Bravo, Rush and Eden annnounced yesterday it will close its news and current affairs in June, with as many as 200 jobs set to go,
Mr Jackson says he got a briefing from the company before the election.
“The did say things were not going too well. They didn’t ask for any assistance in terms of funding but they were pretty clear things were not too good – I didn’t expect them to be closing four or five months later. I thought they were going to come up with some other strategy,” he says.
Mr Jackson says the announcement highlights the importance of funding for Māori media, which is only guaranteed until 2026 unless new Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka to provide funding past that date.