Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Labour leader Chris Hipkins and debate hosts Ryan Bridge, Jack Tame and Patrick Gower. Photos / Mark Mitchell, Michael Craig, Dean Purcell, supplied

‘Hopelessly confused’: Ex-host’s lawyer blasts TVNZ as news firm fights for Breakfast case secrecy; Air NZ set to land advertising account; Sky TV, NZME, TVNZ results – what to expect; A surprise new RNZ board member; but first, all eyes on the election leadership debates, and who’s moderating.

The lecternsand spotlights are poised – the two Chrises, Luxon and Hipkins, are set to go head-to-head in three election debates that are likely to play a crucial role in deciding their respective party vote percentages.

And for media nerds and industry watchers, the debates should also, informally at least, determine New Zealand television’s best political inquisitor.

NZ Herald/Newstalk ZB/Sky TV’s Three; TVNZ; and Stuff will all host one debate each between Luxon and Hipkins before the November 7 election:

TVNZ’s main leaders’ debate, moderated by Jack Tame, will take place on Tuesday, October 6;

The NZ Herald/ZB/Three debate, moderated by Ryan Bridge, is on Wednesday, October 14;

Stuff will hold its debate, moderated by a potpourri of broadcasters and journalists including Paddy Gower, on Tuesday, October 20.

Notably, TVNZ has missed out on having two main leaders’ debates this time.

“The Prime Minister’s Office has declined an invitation for TVNZ’s second leaders’ debate, on 5 November,” a TVNZ spokeswoman said. “TVNZ will use this space in the schedule for alternative election programming.”

A spokesman for the PM’s Office said: “We received a large number of debate requests and have carefully considered a range of factors including audience reach and how dates and times aligned with our campaign.

“We have agreed to three leaders’ debates and a number of other long-format interviews, but we will leave it with those media organisations to confirm their debate plans publicly.”

In a statement, Bridge said of his 90-minute debate: “Audiences can expect a fresh, fast-paced and fair contest of ideas.

“There’s no doubt this is a tight race with minor parties likely to have a significant influence on who gets the keys to the Beehive’s ninth floor. This is a chance for New Zealanders to watch the leaders interact live, and unedited at a crucial point in the campaign.”

The Herald/ZB/Three debate will be followed by a post-debate analysis show hosted by Herald senior correspondent Katie Bradford.

Various media organisations are also hosting other election campaign specials, interviews and debates, including multi-party debates featuring Act, New Zealand First, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Opportunity.

Bridge will moderate two other debates for the Herald and Three:

The Future of New Zealand debate on Wednesday, October 7 – featuring politicians, entrepreneurs, business leaders and other influential voices;

The Powerbrokers’ Debate on Wednesday, October 21, with Act’s David Seymour, NZ First’s Winston Peters, the Greens’ Marama Davidson, one of the two Te Pāti Māori co-leaders and Opportunity’s Qiulae Wong.

NZ Herald head of video strategy Sarah Bristow said the company’s three debates would play a defining role. “In Ryan Bridge we have one of the country’s sharpest interviewers and these premium, live events will be a must-watch for voters, bringing them closer to the people and ideas shaping New Zealand’s future.”

TVNZ’s multi-party debate will take place on Tuesday, October 13, moderated by Breakfast co-host Tova O’Brien. All current ‘minor’ parties in Parliament as well as the Opportunity Party will feature. “The final party line-up will remain open until the week of the debate, reflecting the timing of TVNZ’s qualifying polls,” said the TVNZ spokeswoman.

In a press release yesterday, Stuff did not specifically announce a moderator for its Luxon-Hipkins debate – Gower seems the obvious choice given the stellar job he did for Three/Newshub in 2023.

“We will have a number of our team involved in the PM’s debate including Paddy Gower, Luke Malpass, Samantha Hayes and a panel of respected commentators,” a Stuff spokeswoman said in a follow-up response.

Stuff has abandoned its usual South Island debate, broadcast from Christchurch, in favour of a nationwide one. (Stuff’s planned South Island leaders’ debate in 2023 was canned after Hipkins tested positive for Covid.)

Like the other two leaders’ debates, Stuff’s will be hosted from Auckland. It is also hosting a debate on October 1, featuring the other political parties and key leaders – Seymour, NZ First’s Shane Jones, the Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick, one of the two Te Pāti Māori co-leaders; and Wong.

Stuff’s press release also stated that for each debate, there would be moderation and analysis from journalists and editors including Malpass, Matthew Hooton, Jenna Lynch, Andrea Vance, and Kamala Hayman.

Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hoskingwill host a series of leaders’ breakfasts from 7am-9am, including Hipkins on Tuesday, October 27; the leaders of the minor parties on Thursday, October 29 (30 minutes each), and Luxon on Monday, November 2.

Other major media firms, including RNZ, are also planning broader election campaign coverage - and that’s before we get to election night coverage itself.

‘Hopelessly confused’: TVNZ criticised as Breakfast case adjourned

TVNZ has accused the Employment Court of “material errors” and of misdirecting itself when it rejected the broadcaster’s application for suppression orders surrounding details of the Kamahl Santamaria case.

The news organisation wants to keep secret the identities of staff, including newsroom employees, who made comments about the former Breakfast co-host in “private communications”.

According to a new Employment Court judgment, TVNZ says there would be “adverse consequences” from any media reporting that was “unfair to it and others which cannot be remedied”.

TVNZ is also trying to keep secret details of its payout to Santamaria and other matters contained in a record of settlement that the parties signed when he left the broadcaster in May 2022.

It also does not want to disclose a full copy of the Robins Report to Santamaria – the report was commissioned by TVNZ after his departure and investigated the company’s recruitment policies and how he came to be employed.

The substantive employment case was due to start on Monday this week, but the new judgment from the Employment Court has confirmed it has been adjourned while the suppression argument is sorted.

That latest judgment also indicates the substantive employment case is now unlikely to be heard until at least March next year.

That’s almost five years since the Santamaria saga unfolded – he was employed by TVNZ for 32 days and appeared on the Breakfast show 16 times before he resigned in May 2022, after an incident involving a female staff member in the TVNZ newsroom.

The parties have already agreed - and the judge has ruled - that the name of a person, known only as ‘Person X’, would be suppressed for the case. In recent weeks, TVNZ has wanted wider suppression.

Santamaria’s lawyer Daniel Kalderimis, KC, described TVNZ’s application as “hopelessly confused”, according to the latest Employment Court judgment from Judge Kerry Smith.

“It was, in his view, really an unmeritorious application to adjourn the hearing,” wrote the judge.

“The submission was that really the defendant [TVNZ] is unprepared. That was said to be illustrated by it not adhering to timetables, including, most recently, seeking to defer exchanging its opening address even though the timing of that exchange was revised as recently as July.

“He was critical of the defendant not taking account for its own actions in applying late to address a possible dispute over non-publication it had known for some time was a live issue. Mr Kalderimis was also critical of the application for leave to appeal which he referred to as essentially weak.”

For TVNZ, Maria Dew, KC,noted “the confidentiality otherwise required by the parties’ settlement agreement would be extinguished” if non-publication orders were not imposed.

“These submissions emphasised that a remedy the defendant is seeking is a declaration that confidentiality in the settlement agreement must be maintained and a compliance order under s 137 of the act to compel compliance with that agreement,” the judge said.

“Ms Dew’s point was that if there is wide publicity of this proceeding, which has already attracted significant media attention, the benefit of that settlement agreement will be lost without the non-publication orders the defendant [TVNZ] wants.

“Anticipating a response from Mr Kalderimis, KC, she emphasised that the decision to apply for non-publication orders in July, with a hearing scheduled for mid-August, was not a tactical one. That was because the significance of these issues materialised at about the time the common bundle index was produced and, when the magnitude of what was to be referred to in the evidence became apparent to the defendant, it moved as quickly as it could.”

The judge noted that TVNZ was claiming “material errors” in his earlier judgement which rejected suppression “and that the court misdirected itself in applying the legal principles relating to the application”.

TVNZ was told by the judge its application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal “must be pursued urgently”.

“There was also a discussion with counsel over when the hearing might be held once the Court of Appeal has dealt with the application for leave to appeal and any appeal.

“As matters currently stand a two-week hearing could be accommodated in March 2027.”

A TVNZ spokeswoman said: “This matter is before the court and we won’t be commenting.”

On his website, Santamaria has written of the adjournment.

“My legal team and I were prepared and ready to proceed with the hearing – 1005 days after launching the original proceedings in the Employment Relations Authority – but I fully respect the judge’s decision to adjourn.

“I also believe the judge’s original decisions issued on August 12 were principled and correct, and I am confident they will be upheld on appeal.

“TVNZ, a Government-owned media organisation whose own journalists rely on the principle of open justice every day, is seeking to keep information in this case from the public. I will continue to oppose that at every step.

“The judge has indicated the potential for a revised court date in March 2027 – more than three years after these proceedings began – and, as ever, I remain committed to the legal process.”

Surprise new RNZ board member

This one slipped under the radar, but RNZ has a new “associate member” on its board - a former Sky TV, TVNZ and MediaWorks chief financial officer.

Eroad chief financial officer Ciara McGuigan joined the RNZ board in July, according to a biography quietly added to the RNZ website.

McGuigan departed Sky TV abruptly in February last year, just 16 days before the company was due to announce its financial results. Media Insider was told at the time that the respected CFO’s departure had come as an “utter shock” internally, and some people were in tears when they learned the news.

She joins RNZ as it embarks on a huge year ahead, seeking to remove costs. The public broadcaster announced last week plans to cut 25 to 30 roles – around 10% of its workforce - over the next 10 months as part of a major cost-cutting move.

RNZ told staff – in an email leaked to the NZ Herald – that it needed to reduce staff numbers to remain “financially sustainable”.

Last night, RNZ chair Brent Impey said: “As with all board appointments, RNZ is focused on ensuring the board has the skills and experience required to support the organisation in delivering its public media mandate.

“Ciara’s knowledge of the media sector and strong commercial and financial expertise will be a valuable addition to the board, and I am pleased to welcome her.”

The associate director role is a development opportunity for a future leader to join a board and gain experience in governance, leadership and strategy.

McGuigan was appointed by the RNZ board through a statutory process. It is not a ministerial appointment.

Her RNZ bio outlines her media background. “Ciara also brings experience in commercial strategy, governance and business transformation, with a focus on helping organisations deliver long-term value while maintaining strong accountability and public trust.”

TVNZ, NZME, Sky TV set to deliver results

State-owned TVNZ and publicly listed Sky TV and NZME will next week deliver their latest financial results – an important window on the fortunes of media and the state of the overall economy.

All three media firms rely heavily on commercial revenue, and their results and outlooks will be watched closely for any hint that marketing budgets are being loosened, which would be an encouraging sign of rising business confidence.

Sky TV and NZME also have important subscription revenue streams – a business model that TVNZ is only just embarking on – and these numbers should also give an indication of consumer confidence.

Sky TV

Sky TV will announce its full-year financial results to June 30, 2026, on Friday morning.

Forsyth Barr analyst Ben Crozier is expecting a “solid result”, with three key areas of focus for him: the number of sport subscribers and revenue; Sky Free’s commercial and costs performance (Sky acquired TV3/Three last August); and the performance of its streaming service Neon, especially since the loss of HBO Max content and hit shows such as The Pitt.

In a research note, Crozier said he expected Sky Box subscribers to have fallen by about 14,000 in the second half of financial year 2026. That was in line with recent run rates and was partially offset by “solid” average revenue per user growth.

On Neon, he said: “With the removal of HBO content in mid-June, all focus will be on subscriber trends over the last two months. We expect revenue to meaningfully fall in FY27 to $36m from a ~$50m prior run-rate.”

He also expected about 12% revenue growth for the Sky Sport Now streaming platform.

While Sky was unlikely to specify its Three revenues, he said “slowing declines in total linear advertising would be taken well”.

“We also expect a meaningful focus on the outlook. SKT’s last three-year targets were released in FY23 (for FY26); with the acquisition of Sky Free and renewal of key sports rights, we expect SKT to be in a position to provide new medium-term targets.”

He believed a dividend target of more than 35c per share by FY29 “would be taken well by the market”.

The company was also in a “very attractive net cash position” of $60m–$70m, and clarity on how it intended to return this to shareholders or invest it at attractive rates of return “would be welcome”.

Sky TV shares closed at $3.34 on Thursday - up two cents for the day.

TVNZ

TVNZ will also deliver its full financial year results next Friday – this might be the most politically noisy result.

As Media Insider first revealed last month, the company is forecasting almost $50m of cumulative losses across two years as it invests in its transformation from a traditional broadcaster to a digital-first media business.

TVNZ is forecasting a $20.7m financial loss in 2026 and a further $28.1m loss next year as the state-owned broadcaster deliberately and heavily invests in its five-year digital strategy.

The broadcaster has previously signalled it would fall into the red over the next two years – the scale of those expected losses has been revealed in its new statement of performance expectations.

TVNZ is a Crown-owned entity - it is not funded by the taxpayer, with almost all of its revenue coming from advertising.

However, its financial performance has been under heavy scrutiny from the Government after several years in which it did not pay a dividend.

NZME, publisher of the NZ Herald and BusinessDesk and owner of OneRoof and Newstalk ZB and a suite of entertainment radio stations, will deliver its six-month financial result on Tuesday.

“Management expects annualised operating savings of c.$7m once installed, subject to print volumes, against total project investment of up to $15m over two years,” said Forsyth Barr analysts James Lindsay, Georgio Toulis and Gordon Sims.

They lifted NZME’s spot valuation to $1.20, reflecting higher peer multiples, model roll-forward and lower long-term publishing costs.

They also expected to hear on Tuesday, “detail on investment phasing, lease and transition costs, and the bridge to management’s c.$7m savings estimate”.

“Focus will also be on OneRoof execution and broader advertising conditions. We forecast 1H26 total revenue of $170.1m (+2.5% against the prior year) and operating ebitda of $25.4m (+6.3%), supported by the FY25 cost reset.”

“The acquisition gives SEG immediate scale in New Zealand radio and national distribution for its sports, events, and digital content,” Forsyth Barr’s trio of analysts said.

“MediaWorks already holds the larger commercial radio audience share, so the transaction does not alter the existing scale gap with NZM.

“The key change is MediaWorks’ access to SEG’s sports content and digital capabilities. NZM has a smaller dedicated sports-audio offering, limiting direct programme overlap, although MediaWorks should be able to sell advertisers a broader mix of music, entertainment, and sports inventory.

“For NZM, we view the transaction as supportive of our valuation and modestly negative for competition. We make no changes to our forecasts or NZ$1.20 spot valuation.”

NZME shares closed at $1.10 on Thursday - up four cents for the day.

Air NZ set to land account

Air New Zealand is about to land a decision on its advertising media agency, with all eyes on whether Dentsu has retained the account after a competitive pitch.

Dentsu and three other agencies are battling for the airline’s business.

There is plenty of turbulent speculation around who the other three agencies might be, with names such as PHD, Accenture and Publicis being tossed around.

An Air NZ spokeswoman said the airline expected to have an update in the next month.

Meanwhile, Dentsu says it continues to operate profitably in New Zealand, despite the books showing an $18.1 million post-tax loss last year.

“Our New Zealand business remains strong and continues to deliver a positive operating profit result,” Dentsu NZ group managing director Rachel Anderson-Cormack told Media Insider in a statement yesterday.

“The FY25 statutory accounts do not provide a complete picture of our underlying performance, as they include a range of non-trading and intercompany items.”

Dentsu hasn’t specified what those are, but its accounts, filed with the Companies Office, show a goodwill impairment charge of $13.36m.

Its overall revenue in New Zealand was $46.7m in 2025, compared with $51.88m in 2024. Personnel costs dropped from $38.08m in 2024 to $33.23m in 2025.

The bottom-line loss of $18.1m compares with a loss of $19.056m the previous year.

Aside from Air NZ, Dentsu has a range of other high-profile media and creative accounts including Woolworths, TVNZ, Placemakers and Movember.

“Dentsu remains committed to the New Zealand market and to helping our clients grow,” said Anderson-Cormack, who also highlighted a number of top awards the agency had won.

“We believe the future belongs to growth partners that can bring together the right capabilities, talent and technology to solve complex business challenges and deliver measurable outcomes. Our focus remains on doing exactly that while continuing to evolve our business in line with client needs.”

She said at “a headline level”, Dentsu’s focus had been on ensuring the company had “the right capabilities, leadership and technology to help our clients grow”.

“That means sharpening where we invest, simplifying the business where appropriate, and building around the areas where we can create the greatest value for clients.”

During the first half of its financial year, it had sold its Salesforce implementation capability.

“We also welcomed Nikki McKelvie as managing director of Dentsu Creative and Liz Knox as group executive director, technology and operations. These appointments strengthen our ability to connect creativity, media, data and technology around client outcomes.”

She said the New Zealand market remained competitive, “and clients are understandably disciplined about where they invest”.

“While the election may create some short-term caution in parts of the market, the broader economic environment remains the more significant factor. Clients continue to invest where there is a clear connection to growth and measurable business outcomes, which is where we are focusing our efforts.

“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on active pitch processes, provide forward-looking financial forecasts, or speculate on future workforce numbers.”

Radio ratings

Newstalk ZB has extended its overall share over commercial rivals in the latest radio ratings while a new battle is emerging between music stations for second place.

ZB’s overall audience across New Zealand has remained stable at 656,900 (down 500 listeners), but its commercial share increased from 14.4 points to 14.6.

Its closest commercial rival, MediaWorks’ music station The Breeze, dropped 18,900 listeners and 0.3 share points to 9.2.

Public broadcaster RNZ’s radio audience numbers will be released next week.

A battle royale is brewing between the NZ Herald and RNZ for monthly online audience numbers.

For many years, Stuff and NZ Herald have held the top two spots, but a fast-rising RNZ is now close to the Herald.

Stuff has maintained the top spot in the latest July numbers, with a monthly unique audience of 2.2 million (up 3% on June); NZ Herald sits at 1.85 million (down 4.4%), and RNZ is now at 1.79 million (up 8.4%).

RNZ has been the biggest online beneficiary of the closure of the Newshub website in 2024. Its audience is up 25.7% on a year ago.

Meanwhile, 1 News (742,000), The Spinoff (478,000), The Press (461,000) and The Post (456,000) all bounced back in July from lower June numbers.

On a daily basis, Stuff and NZ Herald are still head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to engagement. Nielsen numbers show both sites regularly generate between four and five million page views a day each – other news sites have fewer than one million.

Media Insider understands the parties are meeting next week to try to resolve the issue. Wenley took to Facebook this week, saying TVNZ had allegedly told RNZ she can’t use a visitors’ disabled car park outside the TVNZ building for any longer than two hours each day.

TVNZ says it’s happy to work with RNZ on a solution, but ultimately it’s RNZ’s call given Wenley works for them.

An RNZ spokeswoman said: “RNZ continues to work through a solution directly with our staff member regarding her parking arrangements following our recent co-location into the Victoria St building.

“We recognise that accessible parking is vital for staff with mobility and physical access requirements and want to ensure we have an arrangement that meets their needs.”

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.