Announcing The Spinoff Members

We’re launching a brand new membership programme, inviting readers to support new journalistic endeavours and help shape our editorial direction. Today The Spinoff enters a new era with the launch of The Spinoff Members. It will support our growth in a way which ensures our work remains free to all, while also allowing us to … Read more

The media in 2018: Spark and the risks and rewards of entering the rights race

Duncan Greive concludes his survey of the state of New Zealand’s media in 2018 with a look at some of the smaller and emerging players – including Spark, Bauer Media and Māori Television. Spark’s emergence as a genuine media contender is the highlight of a fascinating year amongst the mini majors – a loose group … Read more

RNZ in 2018: will well-meaning government interference end its dream run?

It has been the best-performing media brand of the past five years. Yet Labour’s bold plans to grow it have caused RNZ nothing but trouble so far, and major clouds loom on the horizon, writes Duncan Greive. While reporting this series I spoke to over a dozen executives, senior editors and reporters across the New … Read more

MediaWorks in 2018: is the toughest kid in the media finally going to be released from private equity prison?

The home of Three and radio stations like The Edge has been owned by private equity for 10 years now. As part of his series on NZ media in 2018, Duncan Greive talks to anonymous executives within and without of the company to find out whether it might be close to getting an owner that … Read more

Sky in 2018: the pay TV giant has one last shot at the internet

It’s the biggest and by far the most profitable media company in New Zealand. In today’s instalment of his series on NZ media in 2018, Duncan Greive asks media executives why no one believes in Sky any more. When the history of New Zealand media is written in the next few years, one CEO will … Read more

Stuff in 2018: the media monster no one wants to own

Stuff is both the biggest news site in the country and its most precarious big media company. Duncan Greive continues his series on the major media companies with a hard look at it from some senior media executives speaking under condition of anonymity. In late November, the staff of Stuff gathered to meet their new … Read more

The edge of the cliff: inside the major NZ media companies in 2018

Today we launch a week-long series taking the temperature of the NZ media at the end of another year of upheaval. Duncan Greive speaks to senior figures across NZ’s biggest media companies to find out what they think about their plight, their rivals and the industry as a whole When you run a media business, … Read more

TVNZ in 2018: the public broadcaster finally remembers who owns it

In the first of a series on the major New Zealand media companies, sourced through anonymous conversations with senior executives, Duncan Greive assesses the state of NZ’s biggest TV network. ‘We’re buying to play on the channel, not to put it in the cupboard.” In a single caustic line, MediaWorks’ head of content Andrew Szusterman … Read more