1 News but not as we know it

Comment: Having been badly mauled by the E tū union and the Employment Court for not carrying out proper staff consultation over earlier cutbacks TVNZ’s management is staying silent about its latest cost reduction strategy.
The bungled axing of Sunday and Fair Go means no one outside TVNZ is privy to the thinking behind a new proposal to save or find $30 million dollars and, presumably, stop losing money.  
On the face of it, and without knowing full details, it is hard to see how the proposed changes are going to produce anything like $30m.  Yes, there were also ideas to increase revenue but given the market challenges for free-to-air TV, and the highly competitive streaming market, those look a bit like straw-clutching.
The part of the proposal that has drawn most attention is the plan to shut down the 1News website and put news (presumably video only) on its streaming platform, TVNZ+.
This is hardly going to be a big saving, perhaps $3 to $4 million a year, so maybe it is more of a strategic decision as TVNZ moves towards what seems to be its ultimate fate – a commercial streaming platform rather than a television broadcaster.
Some commentators like The Spinoff’s Duncan Greive have made the point that TVNZ is playing to its strength, video, rather than fighting a losing battle against online news heavyweights Stuff and NZ Herald.  1news.co.nz, embarrassingly, has also seen RNZ surge past it and leave it in a distant fourth place.
It is doubtful TVNZ would have made the move if Newshub was still operating.  Now that Stuff provides a budget news product for TV3’s 6pm slot and Newshub’s website no longer exists, TVNZ may feel the competitive pressure has dissipated to the point where it can get away with a move like this.
But it is risky, and it is hard to see how it won’t diminish the profile and power of the 1News brand. 
Commercial broadcasters that TVNZ would compare itself to, say, CBS in America, ITV in Britain and Nine in Australia, all feature video prominently on their news sites but have a heavy text component.  It is unlikely these news providers would consider dropping text stories let alone abandoning their dedicated news sites.
One of the reasons a ‘video only’ approach feels flawed is the problem it will present in covering breaking news.
The fastest way to cover breaking news is to write about it.  Video, even if it is streamed to TVNZ HQ from the scene soon after a TVNZ reporter or camera arrives, will often still need packaging up.  It is a relatively slow process and news consumers will have already headed to Stuff, the Herald or RNZ.
Maybe that doesn’t matter right now but over the longer term it will surely impact 1News’ positioning as a market leader.
The other way of covering breaking news is to have journalists jump into a studio and analyse the news event.  This can be streamed live and then a recording posted on digital platforms.
When the Reserve Bank’s OCR cut was announced on Wednesday TVNZ did exactly this.  A quaintly named segment called ‘Money Digest’ was quickly available on TVNZ+.
The segment featured two of TVNZ’s leading journalists – Katie Bradford and Jack Tame.
Sitting in the studio Bradford and Tame “unpacked” the interest rate reduction.  If this was a potential blueprint for the future, then the future looks dim.
Getting to the content through the login process takes minutes rather than seconds. 
Viewers then would’ve had to sit through a 30 second burger commercial before being hit by Tame’s bizarre “Kia ora, wots sup” introduction.  He then announced Bradford as “the notorious KTB”.  The duo constantly waved their arms around in a state of excitement for the next eight minutes. 
Perhaps it was aimed at a youth audience, but it looked weird, uncool and out of character for two serious journalists.
Closing the 1News website is clearly not going to save TVNZ the sort of money it needs to trim from its news division. 
Making serious cuts in a news budget is difficult.  It was too difficult for TV3’s owners who elected to close the news division and outsource its 6pm bulletin to Stuff – probably saving itself $20 million.
Speculation is growing that TVNZ could do the same thing and outsource its news and perhaps make an even bigger saving. 
NZME (publishers of the NZ Herald and owners of Newstalk ZB) would likely be interested.  The company entered the bidding process to produce TV3’s news but lost out to Stuff.  But a more palatable (for TVNZ’s owners) and likely candidate is RNZ. 
RNZ has dabbled in news video since former Labour Minister of Broadcasting Clare Curran earmarked it to be a full-blown multi-media public broadcaster.  Curran’s plan faded with her own demise, but RNZ could easily ramp-up if TVNZ decided to outsource. RNZ has more in-house TV and broadcasting capability than Stuff did when it took over the news reins at TV3. Its strong online news presence would also be helpful in counterbalancing the shutdown of the 1news site.
The outsourcing could also appeal to governments, be they right or left-leaning.   Without the burden of news, TVNZ could rapidly trim costs and be more focused on its future as a streaming platform.  TVNZ is not a public service broadcaster but a lot of New Zealanders (and politicians) think it has an obligation to provide a full suite of quality news and current affairs programmes.  This de-facto public service role would look more secure if RNZ took over 1News.
As TVNZ’s advertising revenues from its news programmes decline over time, governments could increase RNZ’s funding to make up the difference.  There is not much doubt the state is going to have to put its hand in its pocket, one way or the other, if it wants TVNZ to remain a viable broadcaster.
Reprising the idea of a full merger between TVNZ and RNZ doesn’t seem likely – that horse has bolted – but a more subtle version of it might soon be on the cards.