Talkback: TVNZ has to find way to reinvent past success

Opinion

These are troubled times at Television New Zealand.

The resignation of chief executive Ian Fraser is just the latest bad news story for a broadcaster that had enjoyed, if not relished, the role of dominant television network since market deregulation in 1989.

A month ago, Fraser was announcing that TVNZ had decided not to renew newsreader Judy Bailey's $800,000 contract.

The full story surrounding Fraser's sudden departure has yet to be told.

For now, the public is caught in the swirling mists of claim and counter-claim about the role and actions of TVNZ's board, especially in the contract negotiations of highly paid staff.

But however intriguing the resignation is, the real story is the dramatic change in TVNZ's market position as TV3's audience has grown, particularly in Auckland, to the extent that it is impacting seriously on audience ratings and advertising revenue.

For many years, TV3 was the struggling new player against a long-established institution with a large, loyal and habitual audience. It adopted the only sensible strategy: to grow a new audience targeting mainly younger people. It offered fresh, younger faces as news presenters; it could be a little irreverent; and it looked for stories drawn from the milieu of entertainment and youth culture.

It took time but the strategy worked. Judy Bailey was a casualty of TV3's success and the ageing of the One News audience.

Fraser said at the time of her axing: "TVNZ is faced with the need to renew or refresh One News." All the major aspects of TVNZ's news performance including content, editorial structure, promotion and marketing were under review.

Bailey represented the past and could not front the reinvention of One News. And, at some point, if the rating trends continued, the chief executive would have been a casualty too.

Fraser's successor, who is almost certain to be an overseas candidate, has enormous challenges - a hospital pass some might think.

One News has to be reinvented without alienating its shrinking but loyal older audience. It will also have to lure away younger viewers who have developed the TV3 habit.

But the biggest challenge will be fulfilling the public service charter obligations imposed by the Clark Government while meeting the commercial imperative of operating successfully in a fiercely competitive market.

Who would want to be the new CEO?

* Jim Tully is head of the Political Science and Communication school at the University of Canterbury.