Media Matters: Jennings exits MediaWorks, SVODs eye NZ entrance

The biggest New Zealand media story of the week is surely Mark Jennings’ departure from MediaWorks.

Mr Jennings joined the company in 1989, took up the role of director of news and current affairs in 1994 and was charged with integrating its TV, radio and digital news operations in December 2014 – a task that culminated in the launch of Newshub just three-and-a-half weeks ago.

Many media insiders will be sorry to Mr Jennings leave – he is widely admired in journalistic circles – but hardly surprised: many sources have suggested to NBR over the past year that he’s been unhappy about many of the recent changes he’s had to preside over in news and current affairs at MediaWorks during the past year, including the axing of current affairs shows Campbell Live and 3D.

The fact that Mr Jennings’ successor (Hal Crawford, editor in chief and publisher of Australia's ninemsn) was announced at the same time as his departure does suggest this move has been on the cards for a while – unlike, say, that of MediaWorks’ then-group head of revenue Liz Fraser last year.

(As an aside, the announcement about Mr Jennings came just hours after pop culture website The Spinoff ran a story claiming  Julie Christie had resigned from MediaWorks’ board. The story that was soon updated with a denial from the company, the text of a letter from Ms Christie’s lawyers and an abject apology to her from site editor Duncan Grieve – although now the apology is all that remains.)

Meanwhile, a story this week’s NBR print edition looks at the proposed launch of two new subscription video on-demand services across the ditch.

Rumours of Disney setting up its own SVOD service in Australia and NBC Universal confirming a reality TV platform have sparked curiosity about whether they will enter the New Zealand market.

If they do, competition will significantly heat up. New Zealand’s SVOD market currently comprises only four players: Netflix, Lightbox, Quickflix and Neon.

The heads of two of the New Zealand companies have butted heads, with one saying the arrival of more competition will be detrimental while the other claims it would help create a “buoyant market.” 

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