The producers of long-running soap Shortland Street are in “conversations” with TVNZ about its future.
Amid ongoing cost-cutting at the state broadcaster — which this week confirmed ending broadcasts of Sunday, Midday, Tonight and Fair Go, South Pacific Pictures — chief executive Kelly Martin said Shortland Street was up for discussion.
“We can confirm we are in close conversations with TVNZ about the future of the show and, as yet, we do not know what the outcomes of these discussions will be,” she said.
TVNZ has been open about the challenges it is facing as advertising revenue slumps, and recently posted an operating loss of $4.6 million for the six-month period to the end of December.
It had earlier trimmed the number of general managers and its executive level, and now upwards of 60 jobs are going in the latest round of cuts.
“Shortland Street is a commercially-funded show (paid for entirely by TVNZ’s advertising revenue),” the broadcaster said in a statement today.
“Like many businesses across Aotearoa, the current recessionary environment is having a big impact on TVNZ. There’s less advertising revenue going around as businesses tighten their belts, and that makes it increasingly difficult to fund our programming slate and provide our services to viewers. As a result, we need to look at everything across our slate to ensure we remain commercially viable. This includes Shortland Street.”
Yesterday, Warner Bros Discovery confirmed its plans to shutter the Newshub operation — close to 300 jobs will go there.
TVNZ has also cut the size of the Re: News team and reducing the number of video editors.
It is creating four new roles under a proposal to keep the Fair Go brand running — this would focus on long-form consumer and current affairs for digital platforms.
