Mike's Minute: The end of an era for TV3 News

It feels like it's been coming forever, and in an odd way, it just might have been. 

When the news division of Warner Bros. turns out the lights tonight, it’s the end of an era. 

Or, an era. The simple truth is TV3 news never quite cut it and the history of fiscal dysfunction is the major reason why. 

Some of it was their own doing. Some of it was the unluckiness of who owns you, why they own you and whether they are as invested as they might have been in different circumstances. 

TV3 never really got off the ground properly. 

They did a lot of good things. They brought genuine competition to the market, shook up the presentation and reportage of news a bit and discovered some very good personality-based talent. But at no time did they do what really needed to be done. 

Rate. 

They never toppled the main player in TV1. They made a dent or two. When they focused on specific demographics they made some big dents. But it never quite crossed the line in terms of the zeitgeist. 

They never changed the landscape to the point where they were the champions or the kings of the hill. 

They always remained the plucky little competitor, even years after that moniker became absurd, given they’ve been around the place for decades. 

You can only run the "new kid in town" line for so long. 

Of course it’s a credit to TVNZ who held them off. Not that they will be celebrating. The same way Newstalk ZB didn’t celebrate when we saw off a series of radio stations set up and designed to take us down or out. 

Competition is a good thing and as of tonight, although Stuff will to a degree be taking over, it won't be the same. It doesn’t have the resource or the level of televisual expertise. 

We wish them well of course. The landscape, in terms of terrestrial television, is shocking so all are more than welcome to keep the dream alive. 

But media is a brutal business that became even more brutal with the internet and streaming and the world shrinking. You either get an audience and monetise it, or you don't. 

It's sad, but emotion never paid the bills. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It feels like it's been coming forever, and in an
odd way, it might just have been. When the news
division of Warners turns out the lights tonight, it's the end,
of course of an era, or indeed an error. The
simple truth is TV three News never quite cut it,
and the history of fiscal dysfunction is a major reason.
Some of it was of their own doing. Some of
it was the unluckiness of who owns you, why they
own you, and whether they're just as invested as they

(00:22):
might have been in a different set of circumstances. TV
three never really got off the ground properly. They did
a lot of good things, brought genuine competition to the market,
of course, shook up the presentation and reportage of news
of it, discovered some very good personality based talent, but
at no time did they do what they really needed
to be done right. They never toppled the main player
TB one. They made a dent or two when they

(00:45):
focused on specific demographics. They made some big dent, but
never quite crossed the line in terms of the zeitgeist.
They never changed the landscape to the point where they
were the champions of the Kings of the Hill. They
always remained the plucky little competitive even years after that
Moniker became absurd given the bi around the place for decades.
You can only run on the new Kidd and town
line for so long. It's a credit, of course to

(01:05):
TB and Z who held them off, not that they
will be celebrating the same way as IT'DB didn't celebrate
when we saw off a series of radio stations set
up and designed to take us down or out. Competition
is a good thing, and as of tonight, although stuff
will to a degree be taking over, it won't be
the same. It doesn't have the resource or the level
of televisual expertise. We wish them well. Of course, the

(01:26):
landscape in terms of terrestrial television is shocking, so all
are more than welcome to keep the dream alive. But
media is a brutal business that became even more brutal
with the Internet and streaming and the world shrinking. You
either get an audience and monetize it or you don't.
It's sad, but emotion never paid the bills for more
from the mic asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks

(01:48):
it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio,