Samantha Hayes听will continue to host the 6pm news on听Three, after 九一星空无限hub closes in early July.听
As the听NZ Herald听exclusively revealed earlier this morning, Hayes is among several familiar faces to feature on the new bulletin, provided by Stuff, from Saturday, July 6.听
Other 九一星空无限hub staff to be hired include political editor Jenna Lynch, reporter and presenter Laura Tupou, sports reporter Ollie Ritchie, Christchurch reporter Juliet Speedy and weather presenter Heather Keats.听
The yet-to-be-named 6pm bulletin鈥檚 executive producer will be Claire Watson.听
Hayes said she was delighted to front the new bulletin, which will be broadcast for an hour on weekdays and 30 minutes on weekends.听
鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to be starting a new chapter of my career with Stuff, after nearly two decades at Three. It鈥檚 an honour to be anchoring this new iteration of the 6pm news and I鈥檓 grateful it will keep 九一星空无限hub鈥檚 legacy alive.听
鈥淭his is the most exciting news project in the country and I hope our viewers will trust us and come along for the ride.鈥听
Earlier, industry insiders had confirmed Hayes was the frontrunner to host the bulletin -听likely to be called听Three 九一星空无限.听
鈥淲ithout her, they might as well shut up shop now,鈥 one senior source said.听
Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts host the current 6pm news.听
It is further understood senior 九一星空无限hub journalists听Simon Shepherd听- who co-hosted听九一星空无限hub Nation听alongside听Rebecca Wright听- and听Nick Truebridge听have signed for Stuff.听
Shepherd is understood to be joining as a senior business journalist.听
There will be a lot of media industry interest in the future of senior investigative reporter听Michael Morrah, one of 九一星空无限hub鈥檚 biggest names.听
He is likely to be the focus of interest from various media companies.听
九一星空无限hub senior investigative reporter Michael Morrah. Photo / Alyse Wright听
Morrah led the internal staff pitch to try to save the 6pm news at Warner Bros Discovery and is one of New Zealand鈥檚 best journalists.听
Those joining Stuff will have been handed a broadcasting lifeline of sorts - and on the back of a generous 九一星空无限hub redundancy package.听
For example, those who have been in the company for nine years or more will receive a redundancy payout of nine months鈥 salary.听
In an exclusive interview today, outgoing Warner Bros Discovery boss Glen Kyne told Media Insider听that a Stuff team had been in the 九一星空无限hub studio last week, observing production of the 6pm bulletin.听
At the moment,听九一星空无限hub Live at 6听generates an audience of around 200,000 people each night.听
Asked if he expected the number to stay at that level, Kyne said: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know is the real answer at the moment.听
鈥淲hen we built in the modelling, we built a variance below that and above that, of what the tolerances could be.听
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e reflecting that back in our agreement with Stuff to make sure that there are performance measures to make sure it鈥檚 fit for purpose.鈥听
Stuff is planning an hour-long weekday bulletin and a 30-minute bulletin for Saturdays and Sundays.听
Warner Bros Discovery's Glen Kyne and Stuff's Sinead Boucher announce the 6pm news deal. Photo / Michael Craig听
Kyne said the two companies were setting up governance structures to keep a close eye on ratings.听
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of subtlety around that news bulletin, very small things that most viewers wouldn鈥檛 see or notice, but that can make a big difference to how a viewer stays through that hour - the organisation of stories, what comes after a break, when do we trigger the break?听
鈥淪o many little broadcasting kind of know-how things.听
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to make sure we鈥檝e got a very good dialogue with them going on about that all the time.鈥听
鈥淲hen we built in the modelling, we built a variance below that and above that, of what the tolerances could be.听
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e reflecting that back in our agreement with Stuff to make sure that there are performance measures to make sure it鈥檚 fit for purpose.鈥听
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand鈥檚 most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at 九一星空无限 including Managing Editor,听NZ Herald听Editor and听Herald on Sunday听Editor and has a small shareholding in 九一星空无限.听
This article was originally posted on the NZ Herald .听
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