MediaWorks repays some voluntary pay cuts, leaves TV staff in the lurch

Exterior of the MediaWorks building at Flowers St in Auckland's Eden Terrace. Photo / File

MediaWorks has reimbursed all of its staff past and present - except those of its former TV division - for the pay cuts they took earlier in the year.

This week MediaWorks began handing out letters to its radio and digital businesses staff, and those who were made redundant earlier in the year as part of its cost cutting during the height of the pandemic, informing them of the repayment.

This however, has not been extended to staff of its former TV business, which was formally sold to Discovery Inc at the beginning of December.

The move is said to be causing resentment among those who have missed out.

In a statement, MediaWorks confirmed the reimbursements of all "current" staff.

"All current MediaWorks staff who participated in the voluntary pay cut earlier this year will receive a one-off discretionary bonus that matches the amount they contributed while the voluntary pay cut was active from April–June 2020.

"This discretionary bonus has also been extended to staff who were made redundant earlier this year and who also participated in the voluntary pay cut."

The broadcaster did not answer the Herald's questions about why it had decided not to reimburse staff from its former TV business who had also opted to take the pay cut.

The Herald understands approximately 90 per cent of all MediaWorks staff opted in for the voluntary 15-20 per cent pay cut in April to help the business through the crisis, a large portion of which would have been by staff of the TV business.

When pressed for comment, MediaWorks directed the Herald to the division's new owner Discovery.

"As the TV3 sale was completed on 1 December to Discovery Inc, any employee matters relating to Discovery NZ staff will need to be directed to them."

However, a spokeswoman for Discovery said the matter was one for MediaWorks.

MediaWorks cut 130 roles across its radio and outdoor business earlier this year.

In September, it reached a binding agreement with US media giant Discovery Inc regarding the sale of its free-to-air TV business after a lengthy period on the market.

The final sale price for entertainment channels Three and Bravo, streaming service ThreeNow, and multi-platform news and current affairs service Newshub, as well as other channels Three+1, Bravo+1, The Edge TV and The Breeze TV, has not been disclosed.

Nasdaq-listed Discovery has a market cap of US$10.89 billion ($16.2b). In 2019, it made a net profit of US$1.5b on revenue of US$11.1b.

In October, former Air New Zealand revenue chief Cam Wallace was named the new chief executive of MediaWorks. Wallace is a media and political junkie, prominent on Twitter where he has urged support for the local media industry in the past.