Sky beats TVNZ to Olympics rights; Sir Sam Neill slams RNZ bosses as “cloth-eared clowns” over plans to scrap specialist movie reviewer; A looming battle to be ANZ’s ad agency; Controversial Tom Phillips documentary is registered for publicly-backed screen production rebate.
A controversial documentary on the Tom Phillips case appears to be in line to receive public support in the form of the country’s long-established screen production rebate.
The NZ Film Commission has confirmed it has received a registration for the rebate but - despite the level of potential public support - it is citing confidentiality and refusing to say whether the registration is for the 20% international screen production rebate or the 40% domestic screen production rebate.
It is not publicly known how much Dame Julie Christie’s documentary, currently being filmed, will cost to produce.
But if producers hypothetically spend, say, $4 million on a project and it is deemed eligible for one of the two rebates, they would receive $800,000 back under the international rebate or $1.6m back under the domestic rebate.
It cannot receive both.
A New Zealand Film Commission spokeswoman said: “A registration for the screen production rebate has been received by the NZFC; however, no rebate application has been received relating to a documentary about the Tom Phillips case.”
Documentary maker Christie said in a text message: “Registration is just a formality and does not mean we will apply. You probably need to research the process.”
She did not respond to further questions or a request for an interview.
A source said, “By registering, she’s shown her intent, her desire to want to access the screen rebate.”
It is understood that another, international production firm and platform - there has been speculation of a Netflix-type deal - are attached to the documentary.
The source said: “The thing is, she clearly has found the resources to produce. It doesn’t matter where the resources come from; if she has the resources and does produce and produces the net receipts for what it costs, then she can claim the rebate on that because she had registered.”
The rebate has been in place since 2014 - and has sometimes attracted political noise. The New Zealand Film Commission, which administers the rebate, says it is essential for the growth of the screen industry.
In the eight years to 2022, about $1.15 billion has been paid out through the rebate scheme, with those productions spending about $5.2b in the same period in New Zealand.
There are criteria that productions have to meet in order to receive the rebate. For example, in order to receive the 40% domestic screen production rebate, productions have to demonstrate significant New Zealand content through a points test and they require local distribution agreements.
A spokesman for Sky TV and Three said yesterday that the two broadcasters were not involved in the Phillips documentary.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said: “TVNZ is not involved in this production. As far as we’re aware, it’s an independent production by NHNZ Worldwide. We talk to Julie Christie regularly around content she and NHNZ Worldwide are producing, like we would any other production company.”
Asked if TVNZ would speak to Christie about this specific documentary and whether they were interested in screening it, the spokeswoman said: “It’s too early to say.”
Meanwhile, an NZ on Air spokeswoman said the funding agency did not usually “confirm or deny the existence of applications for funding as these are commercially sensitive”.
“However, with the permission of the producer, we can confirm NHNZ will not be applying to NZ on Air for funding for the documentary on the Tom Phillips case.”
‘It’s really important to me’
Christie is one of our finest producers and storytellers, and most astute businesswomen. She is a powerful media industry player, having established some of the best-known reality TV shows in this country and taken them to the world.
She has sent text messages to the media this week about the production, including one to the Herald earlier in the week: “I’ve been doing police follow docs for 32 years. We’ve been working on this one all year and through much of the investigation. It’s really important to me.”
She also sent a text to Herald Now’s Ryan Bridge yesterday, in light of concerns around the Phillips children’s privacy: “We have never asked to shoot anything with the children. We have been with the same small group of detectives only for the past seven months. We have not seen the children. We abide by strict police rules at all times.”
Many in the screen industry yesterday had no doubt the documentary would attract a huge audience, but questioned when it might screen.
“Julie has got a f***ing cracking story, and look, she might not be able to tell it in one or two years, or it might even be four or five years. It’s like investing in futures ... it will be published, but it’s going to be a long, long wait.”
Police involvement
Police have been in the spotlight this week as to why they have allowed the documentary team to be given exclusive access behind cordons.
Christie herself was allowed behind the cordons and into the area where Phillips was shot and killed.
“The kind of talk that’s happening between all the reporters is why is this allowed to happen?” said one journalist on the ground in Waikato this week. “We’re here for the public interest. They’re there to make money. Why would the police be giving them such access? Maybe it’s because the police are able to control the narrative somewhat.”
Police have defended their deal with the documentary crew. Police had never given the crew access to film anything involving the children, nor had such access been sought, said police spokeswoman Claire Trevett.
“The agreement with police specifies that, beyond photos already in the media, the children will not be identified on screen in the film.”
Trevett said the focus of the documentary team for the past seven months had been on the work of the police investigation team.
Who’s the international production firm/streamer?
Last December, a British-based production firm, Rare TV, contacted a Herald reporter, saying it was in funded development with Discovery for a documentary series on the Phillips case.
Rare TV did not respond to messages overnight.
Another source also believed Discovery might be involved, but another played this down.
What is the screen production rebate?
The rebate on qualifying international and domestic productions in New Zealand is used to attract and incentivise investment, boosting the local screen sector and generating economic benefits.
International productions are eligible for a 20% rebate (with a 5% uplift in some circumstances); domestic productions are eligible for a 40% rebate.
The Film Commission has previously highlighted an economic impact assessment of the Netflix series Sweet Tooth, produced in New Zealand.
It received $9.6m through the rebate scheme and was estimated to have produced $6.91 in GDP for every dollar of the rebate – a $66m contribution to New Zealand’s GDP in 2020. The series also created 1180 full and part-time jobs that year with $21m spent on wages and salaries.
An NZFC spokeswoman said last night: “To be eligible for the rebate, all applicants must either register or make a provisional application to NZFC. This is the first step in being able to make a final application for the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate (NZSPR) and the rebate is only granted after a final application is made and considered.
“Once a project is registered or a provisional application approved, the production can apply for the rebate.
“The final application for the NZ screen production rebate must be submitted within six months of completion of the production. The application is then assessed and presented to the rebate panel for a decision under the published criteria.”
Sky has won the New Zealand TV rights to the 2028 Summer Olympics - and is finalising the deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Media Insider can reveal.
The pay-TV operator has been in a duel with TVNZ for the rights for the Los Angeles Games, just as the companies battled for the 2026 Football World Cup rights recently.
TVNZ won the rights to screen the football and will use next year’s tournament as its first event to showcase its subscription TV service, but it confirmed to Media Insider that it had missed out on the Olympics.
Sky TV chief corporate affairs officer Chris Major said last night: “We are in constructive discussions with the IOC, and we look forward to sharing more details soon.”
The deal spells a huge boost for Sky and - likely - its new free-to-air broadcast platform Three (TV3). Expect to see major Olympics events featuring Kiwis on the free-to-air channel, alongside a plethora of pay-TV channels focusing on individual sports and events.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said: “We do not have the rights for the 2028 Olympics. Yes, we’ve been formally advised. The successful bidder would need to confirm the rights package they’ve secured.”
In an interview last July, Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney talked of the fee paid, in 2014, for Sky to win the rights to the 2024 Paris Olympics. She indicated last year that Sky would barely break even for the 2024 Games, despite huge ratings.
It was clear at the time, in discussions with industry sources and Sky itself, that the pay operator would not – knowing what it does now – pay the same price for the rights today.
“You’re spot on to ask that question in the context of when the rights are secured,” Moloney said at the time.
“The context of securing rights is critical to determining their value – 2014 [being a] very, very different circumstance to where we are now.
“The rights at the time ... I’m sure they looked very straightforward in the five-year plan that the prior CEO would have been running, but it’s not just about the rights costs, it’s the production costs.
“The costs of delivery of the number of feeds that we receive are pretty phenomenal contribution costs, as well as then producing the content in a location that has euros.
“With the New Zealand dollar to pay for it, even with good hedging, it’s a challenging uplift on those costs.”
There has been one major shift since that interview - the emergence of TVNZ as a much stronger competitor for sports rights.
It remains to be seen just how much Sky TV has had to pay to win the rights to the 2028 games.
If ever there was an illustration of the public challenges facing RNZ as it tries to freshen up RNZ National, it came in the form of some stinging words from our greatest living actor on a very modern social media format.
Sir Sam Neill did not hold back on Instagram yesterday, reacting to the news, first reported in Media Insider last week, that RNZ is planning to dump its Sunday afternoon movie-review segment At the Movies, hosted and produced by Simon Morris.
Neill said Morris was “always superb”.
He also asserted that RNZ was planning to dump Matinee Idle, its regular holiday afternoon music show hosted by Morris and Phil O’Brien.
Neill said of Matinee Idle: “An institution for all of us for so many years, irreverent, funny, a holiday on a holiday. Simon and Phil, what a pair…
“So who is running RNZ? What cloth-eared clowns got that job? Fix this, the country is angry.”
An RNZ spokeswoman said: “We are still in the feedback period for the proposed changes to how RNZ covers music, arts and culture and will not be commenting further than the statement that we have already given on this proposal.
“However, to clarify, the continuance or otherwise of the Matinee Idle programme is not specifically considered in this change proposal. Decisions around the summer holiday programming have yet to be made.”
RNZ interim head of content John Hartevelt said last week the proposed changes to RNZ’s coverage of music, arts and culture were a “necessary response to the reduction of RNZ’s funding”.
Taxpayer funding for RNZ is being slashed by almost $5 million a year - about 7% of its annual budget - and the Government has said it wants to see improved audience reach, trust and transparency.
Hartevelt said: “The [change] proposal aims to allow RNZ to adapt to the changes in audience behaviour and spread the available funding for this type of content more evenly across platforms, while allowing for a wider range of voices and a structure that fosters collaboration.
“We have shared the proposal with impacted kaimahi [staff] and will not be commenting further on it while we await their feedback.”
Media Insider has been leaked a specific proposal that includes “decommissioning” youth platform and podcast Tahi.
A regional media firm that went into voluntary administration with debts of more than $600,000 has been rescued, with a well-known Northland identity taking ownership and saving around 20 jobs.
“They have saved the day for us,” administrator Garry Whimp, of Blacklock Rose, told Media Insider.
Northland-based Integrity Community Media employs about 18 people, plus contractors, and has a portfolio of five titles – weekly community newspaper Kaipara Lifestyler and four monthly titles Northern Farming Lifestyles, Waikato Farming Lifestyles, Taranaki Farming Lifestyles and Manawatu Farming Lifestyles.
The Dargaville company was placed in voluntary administration in late July and since then Whimp has been sorting through debts of about $650,000, predominantly to the IRD and staff owed holiday pay.
Creditors are unlikely to see any money from the sale but the jobs would be saved, said Whimp. He confirmed a sale and purchase agreement had been signed, with settlement today.
“I am very happy. I think it’s for them [new owners] to announce, but they are local identities and have a real interest in keeping those jobs.
“It was more about the staff there and keeping local content. They have saved the day for us. We are very happy about that.”
The new owner is Rural Matters Ltd, a company formed this week and whose sole shareholder and director is Mangawhai-based Mike Howard.
“We know that business and having business survive in the district is critical,” Howard told Media Insider.
“These five papers keep 20 families in food. So that’s a key thing – we don’t want to lose that to the community. It’s a very viable business and it connects to my history of 44 years in the advertising and media game.”
He said the media firm was a critical voice for the community.
“The greatest opportunity... you think about the Lifestyler ... is to have a local voice that can uphold the principles of the Fourth Estate, which are unfortunately badly abused too often these days.
“My key thing is a good, strong, viable, local voice.”
READ THE FULL STORY AND MORE ABOUT CREDITORS HERE
One of the country’s biggest advertising accounts is coming up for grabs, with ANZ launching a review of its media agency partnership.
Advertising and bank industry sources expect “huge interest” in the pending pitch process, with incumbent PHD, which has held the account for more than 13 years, facing a battle to retain it against allcomers.
The matter is so sensitive that one agency didn’t wish to have its name associated with this piece; others did not return messages.
ANZ itself is understood to have locked down media comment; it said it did not have an update to provide on the process.
However, sources through the media and banking sector expect “huge interest” in the pitch.
Names already being floated include Accenture Song, whose Australia-based media managing director Melissa Fein was previously with Initiative, which won the ASB account two years ago. Accenture did not wish to comment.
Another New Zealand agency, Together, is expected to be among several who put up their hands. Together did not respond to several emails and text messages yesterday.
PHD would not comment either.
“With the economy the way it is, you’ve got the banks and the telcos, insurance companies and some fast-food companies who are basically the biggest advertisers and have stayed reasonably resilient,” said one well-placed source.
“So they’ve got money to spend on advertising. If you’re an advertising agency, you want one of them as an account. Most agencies try to have, as part of their blue-chip clients, at least one bank.
“Banks still have a little bit of money to spend on brand. Most companies now are very much retail-focused – sell something, get people in the door kind of thing, rather than grow the brand.”
According to Nielsen, ANZ was the sixth biggest spender of advertising dollars in New Zealand last year.
Top 20 NZ advertisers for 2024 (Nielsen)
ANZ Group chief marketing officer Astrud Burgess will be a key figure in the decision-making.
In a media statement last month, an ANZ spokeswoman said: “The media landscape is changing quickly, with new technology, data, AI, and shifts in media formats and agency models.
“We believe now is the right time to conduct a thorough review to ensure we have the best partner model for the future.”
The bank will no doubt be factoring in the upcoming mega-merger of Omnicom (OMG) and Interpublic (IPG).
Through their various agency brands, those two companies hold just about every major New Zealand bank advertising account, including BNZ, ASB, ANZ, KiwiBank and SBS.
ANZ might well be seeking a separate path.
“The review will start in September with an initial market assessment,” the ANZ spokeswoman said.
“PHD remains our media agency during this time and it’s business as usual. Both Australia and New Zealand are in scope for the review.”
Current NZ banks and their agencies
Congratulations to Pacific Media Network chief executive Don Mann, who last week received the New Zealand Pasifika Leadership Award, alongside AUT assistant pro vice-chancellor Pacific Dagmar Vaikalafi Dyck.
Speaking to Pacific Media Network radio host William Terite, Mann highlighted the importance of the recognition for the Pacific community.
He called the award a “wonderful recognition” of everyone who had contributed to PMN’s three decades in operation.
“It’s due recognition for everyone who’s been a part of PMN but also for Pacific people who take up leadership spaces right across various sectors. I was fortunate to be standing alongside Dagmar and Maseina [nominee Maseina Koneferenisi, of Masterton District Council] last night. It’s recognition for a lot of things and gratitude to be there as well.”
The awards are organised by Robert Walters in partnership with the Graeme Dingle Foundation and recognise leaders across various sectors who drive excellence, growth, and innovation.
A week of Media Insider stories has included plans to split MediaWorks into two, with the potential to sell some of our most popular radio stations; the Advertising Standards Authority ruling that a YouTube version of the extremely popular Tina from Turners ad has breached its rules; the Broadcasting Standards Authority ruling that a TVNZ news story on its Destiny Church investigation breached a woman’s privacy by revealing her face to some viewers; and Sky TV commentator Jeff McTainsh’s madcap, last-minute dash to Eden Park to call the All Blacks test after Tony Johnson started losing his voice.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.