It is owned by a private equity company, Ironbridge, which operates by leveraging loans from banks. In the current environment - with money tight - Ironbridge would be in no hurry to pay the big costs for exclusive rights.

MORNING GLORY?

MediaWorks' TV3 hiring Oliver Driver to front its breakfast programme Sunrise has given the show an unexpected gasp of breath.

Driver - an acclaimed actor cum emcee who appears packaged and posted on the TV ads for the Kiwi Made campaign - is replacing James Coleman, who co-hosts the show with Carly Flynn.

Coleman was an odd match for Carly Flynn but the rock bottom rating show had bigger issues, not least an uninspiring set and a minimalist budget.

But can Sunrise still be called a news product and should it be? TV3 news and current affairs boss Mark Jennings tried to anoint Driver with some journalist attributes, but he crosses over frequently into the commercial world.

The business news part of the shows has been improved but its producer Clare Watson has long been rumoured to be moving.

Meantime, TVNZ's Breakfast - fronted by Paul Henry and Pippa Wetzell and with a newsy focus - has been flying high.

That might be why MediaWorks has given the kiss of life to Sunrise, which is costing the company dearly.

As media buyer veteran Martin Gillman says, prime time ratings are going down and free-to-air growth depends on under-watched zones like breakfast TV.

Driver will polarise opinions. Gillman is personally a big fan and says it will bring street-smarts to the show. But he says there is no guarantee it will do anything for its flatline ratings. Driver starts on Monday.

SUNDAY PULPED

Fairfax Magazines has suffered another problem with the Sunday Star Times liftout Sunday. Fairfax editorial director Paul Thompson confirmed the issue of the magazine due to come out this week was scrapped and then redone and reprinted.

"The edition contained themed advertising and editorial about breast cancer awareness month. Unfortunately the cover story for the edition was an exploration of the pros and cons about sunbeds," he said.

The story featured a girl in a bikini but it was not clear that was the reason to reprint the Sunday glossy.

"It was a straight article in a themed issue," Thompson said. "We felt the juxtaposition was inappropriate and the decision was to reprint the magazine."

NO PROBLEM?

Credit to Fairfax which took steps to correct the latest problem. Most readers and many advertisers this Sunday will be unaware there was a problem.