TVNZ 'backed into a corner' by rushing new hosts, says Paul Henry

Paul Henry says TVNZ are "backed into a corner" rushing in new Breakfast show hosts Hilary Barry and Jack Tame

Broadcaster Paul Henry says TVNZ has been "backed into a corner" by trying to rush in new Breakfast show hosts Hilary Barry and Jack Tame to combat his show's high ratings.

It is believed Barry and Tame will take over Breakfast next month.

"What they're doing now is what you do when you're backed into a corner," Paul Henry told Fairfax Media.

"We have given them a run for their money haven't we?"

However Henry told Fairfax Media it would be business as usual for his show.

"I don't pay any attention to what [Breakfast] are doing," he said.

Despite initial reports the new hosts would not take over until January, it's understood their debut has been brought forward to combat rival Paul Henry's growing audience on TV3, which leaves no time to build new sets or change the look.

It has been a turbulent past two months at TVNZ's early morning news show. In July, the Herald revealed veteran broadcaster Peter Williams is the latest presenter to be dumped from Breakfast.

It is believed Williams, who has worked at TVNZ since 1979, will continue to read the news at weekends. The Weekend Herald revealed two weeks earlier that Rawdon Christie and Nadine Chalmers-Ross had been told their time hosting the flagship morning news programme was up.