New chairwoman and directors for TVNZ

New TVNZ chairwoman Dame Therese Walsh. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Dame Therese Walsh has been named as the new chairwoman of Television New Zealand.

Walsh has served as deputy chair of the national broadcaster since 2015 and is also on the board of ASB, Air New Zealand and the New Zealand stock exchange.

Communications Minister Simon Bridges, who announced Walsh's appointment this morning, said she would "bring continuity and strong commercial judgment to the role".

Bridges today also announced Solid Energy chairman Andy Coupe would join TVNZ as deputy chair.

Chief executive of Park Road Post Production Cameron Harland is also joining the board.

Julia Raue was reappointed as a director for another term.

Joan Withers, TVNZ's current chairwoman and a director since 2009, is retiring from the role, as is board member Barrie Saunders.

TVNZ news management met with teams yesterday to finalise details of a restructure expected to result in job cuts.

Head of news John Gillespie said there would be a net loss of less than 10 jobs across the news team, however, a number of roles will be advertised for which staff can apply for internally.

Gillespie could not give specifics on the types of jobs which were on the line, but said they were of an operational nature, including support staff and producers.

The broadcaster is also seeking to take on more video journalists in the regions, including Tauranga, Northland, Hawke's Bay and Southern Lakes.

Gillespie said the restructure was the first for the news team, but there could be more to come.