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TVNZ is considering starting a late afternoon news programme in an effort to attract more viewers.
The state broadcaster said yesterday it was looking at new programming options for the afternoon, which could include news, game-show and lifestyle programmes.
Its head of television, Jeff Latch, said yesterday a formal decision was likely to be made in six to eight weeks.
"We are looking at a whole host of options at the moment for the afternoon," he said.
"It includes a variety of different genre including news, lifestyle and game shows."
A late afternoon news programme was one of many things being considered. But it was too early to comment on details.
TVNZ cut up to 160 jobs in its latest round of restructuring. Despite signs of recovery, One News has been losing viewers to 3News.
Head of news Anthony Flannery, who held senior positions at Australia's Nine Network before joining TVNZ, did not return calls.
Channel Nine has a half-hour afternoon news programme which screens at 4.30pm as a warm-up for its 6pm news bulletin.
TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said yesterday the whole of TVNZ's schedule, particularly on TV One, was under scrutiny.
"There are all sorts of options under consideration but nothing is set in stone," she said.
"We are looking at where we place things and how we handle things across the whole schedule.
"News is one of the things we are looking at. It's a very important product and we'd be mad not to."
She said the reason for considering change was to attract more viewers. "We want as many visitors to our channels as we can possibly find."
She said that because of TV One's recent difficulties, it was particularly important to get the right mix of programming.
"TV One has had a hard time recently, and we would like to restore it to its former dominance in every demographic.
"It is still streets ahead in its national commercial demographic and even further streets ahead in terms of the number of viewers who watch and the popularity of its programming, but we want to make sure it's there in every category," she said.
Canterbury University's head of political science and communications, Jim Tully, said yesterday a late-afternoon news programme would be an interesting move.
"It probably indicates a strategy of trying to have a point of difference with TV3," he said.
"It probably reflects the very competitive market and TVNZ looking for ways in which to develop an audience outside the normal 6pm prime slot. "You can't assume the traditional formats are necessarily going to appeal to everybody any more."
If TV One did have an afternoon news programme and the 6pm bulletin, "one would hope that would be a significant bulletin", he said.
"But that with the digital news channel means they are going to have to have a fairly substantial commitment to news."
