MediaWorks New Zealand

homepage	mediaworks.co.nz

MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand–based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media. It is owned by Australian out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates eight national radio brands, eleven websites and one locally operated radio station.

On 1 December 2020, MediaWorks sold its entire television division, MediaWorks TV to Discovery, Inc.[3] and the subsidiary company, MediaWorks TV Limited was renamed Discovery NZ Limited (now Sky Free).[4]

Oaktree Capital Management formerly held a 45% stake in Mediaworks. On 7 April 2025, it was announced that QMS Media had purchased this share taking full control of the company.[5] In 2026 QMS Media was acquired by Nine Entertainment.[6]

History

Television

MediaWorks was created in 24 June 2004 following the merger of TVWorks and RadioWorks, and owned the nationwide free-to-air television channels TV3 and C4 through the MediaWorks TV subsidiary.[7]

On 7 September 2020, MediaWorks confirmed that it would be selling its entire television arm including Three, Bravo, The Edge TV, Breeze TV, streaming service ThreeNow, and current affairs service Newshub to Discovery, Inc.[8][9]

Nationwide stations

Since its inception in 2004, MediaWorks have moved its local stations over to the More FM and The Breeze brand; all these broadcasts now carry this branding and some or all of the brand's programming. At the same time, MediaWorks have rolled out new brands Radio Live and Kiwi FM, converted Radio Pacific to LiveSport, and purchased brands Mai FM and George FM. MediaWorks also owns Radio Dunedin in Otago.[11]

Radio brands

Defunct/Sold

Local services

Coromandel FM was a regional Coromandel Peninsula radio network with a Hot AC music format and hourly Radio Live News updates. It was officially launched by station manager Warren Male in December 1992, but began as short trial broadcasts on Pauanui-Tairua and Whitianga-Whangamata during previous summers.[38]

Regional stations

Radio Dunedin

Radio Dunedin is a Dunedin radio station broadcasting on 1305 AM and 106.7 FM. It claims to be the first radio station in New Zealand, the fifth oldest station in the world and five weeks older than the BBC. It is no longer part of MediaWorks - since April 2025 it has been under the umbrella of Radio Aotearoa. On weeknights and weekends the Otago Radio Association broadcasts a variety of community radio programming – the announcers during these times are unpaid volunteers.

The station first went to air on 4 October 1922, and celebrated 90 years in 2012. It has previously been known as 4DN, 4AB, 4ZB (not part of government ZB network), Pioneer Radio and 4XD. It has previously broadcast on 1431 AM and 1305 AM. The station was operated non-commercially and voluntarily by the Otago Radio Association until 1990. Then it became a commercial station and was sold to Radio Otago Limited in 1993, and subsequently became part of MediaWorks Radio.

On 6 May 2008 it began broadcasting on 99.8 FM and in mid-2007 it began online streaming. In 2015 the FM frequency was moved to 106.7 FM (central city only) to make way for network station Magic. Radio Dunedin was not affected by the More FM rebranding.

Past stations

Networked closed down stations

Channel Z and Kiwi FM

Kiwi FM (originally known as Channel Z) was a New Zealand music station, the station originally played 100% music from New Zealand artists, this was reduced to 60% in 2012. Kiwi FM had its origins as Channel Z, a station that played mostly alternative rock music. Channel Z began as a local station in Wellington and separate stations were later started in Auckland and Christchurch.

In 2001, the Wellington and Christchurch stations became networked from Auckland and Channel Z saw a format change in 2003 to include 30% New Zealand music as well as a change of presenters. In 2005 Channel Z was relaunched as Kiwi FM a station that originally played 100% New Zealand music. From 2006 Kiwi used frequencies licensed by the New Zealand Government with the original frequencies assigned to other MediaWorks radio stations. Kiwi FM ceased broadcasting on 31 March 2015 with the frequencies handed back to the government.

LiveSport

LiveSport was a sports talk station aimed at the 40+ year-old male listeners. LiveSport was used to broadcast Radio Trackside during horse racing hours.

Channel Z and Kiwi FM

Interactive

MediaWorks Interactive consists of the radio brands, corporate website and travel website Wandr. The Interactive department designs, maintains and sells advertising for all websites. Most websites have a similar layout and a MediaWorks link bar at the top of the page.[2]

The Newshub website was the flagship news website of MediaWorks. On 1 December 2020, Newshub was acquired by Discovery, Inc. The website is continuously updated by the company's journalists. It claims to have provided the first video coverage and breaking news coverage of several events, including being the first website to have posted the verdict of the retrial of David Bain in 2009.[44] It includes sections on national, world, sport, business, entertainment, politics, lifestyle, technology and odd news, as well as weather forecasts, information on Newshub programmes and a news forum. The other websites carry feeds from relevant sections.

Websites

Former services

Television

Three, Bravo, The Edge TV and The Breeze TV operated out of Auckland City. Television advertising was sold by the MediaWorks offices in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Melbourne, Sydney and Hamilton. There were Newshub bureaus in the Three Headquarters in Auckland and MediaWorks offices in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, with news staff working out of other offices as needed. Three provided mature content, Newshub bulletins, current affairs and sport. The Edge TV launched in 2014 and broadcasts music videos and entertainment news. All are available via all digital platforms such as terrestrial, satellite and cable. TV3 and Four were the only ones previously available via analogue terrestrial on the VHF band before the 2013 switch-off. The Edge TV was added in 2018. Bravo and Bravo Plus 1 replaced Four and Four Plus 1 in 2016.[45] ThreeLife was added in 2018, and ThreeLife + 1 replaced The Edge TV on terrestrial in 2019. On 25 March 2020, ThreeLife went off air, and was replaced by The Edge TV, and its timeshift channel by The Breeze TV.

Confidentiality and trust

On 10 March 2016 a reporter for MediaWorks broke embargo and leaked sensitive information about a 25 basis point cut by the Reserve Bank to the Official Cash Rate (OCR).[47] MediaWorks conducted their own investigation of the leak, and followed up with an apology from CEO Mark Weldon (former head of the New Zealand Stock exchange), although Weldon stopped short of naming the reporters involved.[48] As a result of the loss of trust with the media, the Reserve Bank has elected to discontinue the media lockup prior to future releases of the OCR.

External links

References

Russell McVeagh. IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY Judgment of Associate Judge Abbott, 27 July 2009^
Our Brands MediaWorks, retrieved 18 October 2019^
Discovery, Inc. completes acquisition of MediaWorks TV.

Radio

MediaWorks Radio has its origins as a Taranaki-based radio company Energy Enterprises. Energy Enterprises was started in the 1980s when local station Energy FM was started in Taranaki. During the 1980s and 1990s Energy Enterprises expanded their operation by starting up new stations around the North Island of New Zealand or taking over existing privately owned stations. In the late 1990s Energy Enterprises amalgamated with Radio Pacific and became known as Pacific/RadioWorks Group. The company purchased seven North Island stations owned by Dunedin-based Radio Otago in 1997 allowing Radio Otago to expand their operations to other markets in the South Island. The two companies Radio Otago and Pacific/RadioWorks group merged in 1999 to become RadioWorks.

The merger of Pacific/RadioWorks Group and Radio Otago allowed RadioWorks to expand their North Island stations into the South Island. By 1999 RadioWorks consisted of The Edge FM and The Rock (two stations that were originally Hamilton based), Solid Gold, Radio Pacific and a collection of local one-off stations in each market. Some markets even had more than one local station. From 1999 onward, all of the local stations were marketed as LocalWorks stations. Between 2000 and 2001, CanWest purchased RadioWorks, awaiting company restructuring before completing the year-long takeover, and moved its existing MORE FM group assets, including Channel Z and The Breeze Wellington, into the company.

In 2004, CanWest Global Communications combined television company TVWorks and radio company RadioWorks to form the new MediaWorks company. On 29 July 2004, 30% of this new company was sold on the NZSX. Three years later, in July 2007, CanWest sold its stake of the company to Ironbridge Capital, a group of Australian investors, who subsequently obtained the remaining 30% from other investors.[11]

In 2011, MediaWorks received a $43 million loan guarantee for the Government to renew its licenses until 2030.[12] The deal went against official advice, and then Communications Minister Steven Joyce was accused of having a conflict of interest as the past managing director of the company's RadioWorks division.[13] The loan was described by AUT's Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy as a form of corporate welfare,[14] and was criticised by blogger Sarah Miles as a case of governmental interference in the media.[15] Among other companies, Radio Bay of Plenty secured commercial loans, The Radio Network covered its own costs, and Rhema Broadcasting Group covered the cost with no-interest loans.[16]

The US-based Oaktree Capital Management bought $125 million of loans to MediaWorks in 2012. These were converted to equity in 2013. In June 2013, with over NZ$700 million in debt, MediaWorks NZ was put into receivership.[17] It came out of receivership in November 2013. Oaktree Capital Management took 100% ownership of the business in 2015.[18][19]

In August 2014, Mark Weldon was appointed CEO, replacing Susan Turner, who had resigned in July 2014.[20] Weldon resigned in May 2016 at the same time that a large number of long serving and high-profile staff were leaving the company under his leadership. CFO David Chalmers replaced him in an acting capacity.[21]

Since its inception in 2004, MediaWorks has moved its local stations over to More FM and The Breeze network; all these stations now carry the network branding and some or all of the network's programming. At the same time, MediaWorks have rolled out new networks Radio Live and Kiwi FM, converted Radio Pacific to LiveSport, and purchased networks Mai FM and George FM. MediaWorks owns Radio Dunedin in Otago. Previously the company owned and operated Times FM in Orewa and Coromandel FM on the Coromandel Peninsula; these two local stations were rebranded as More FM in 2015.[22]

All MediaWorks-owned and -affiliated stations read or carry Newshub updates hourly or half hourly during their weekday breakfast programmes. Most also carry pre-recorded news and sports updates hourly at other times. RadioLive News took over from the RadioWorks news service, Global News, with the launch of Radio Live in 2005; RadioLive was incorporated into Newshub in 2016.

In October 2021, MediaWorks said it would be ending its content supply agreement with Newshub. MediaWorks announced it would instead establish its own radio newsroom again and would employ over 20 news and sports journalists, editors and correspondents.[23]

In November 2021, MediaWorks announced it would replace Magic Talk with a new talk radio network called Today FM which launched on 21 March 2022.[24][25] Newshub's political editor at the time, Tova O'Brien, was announced as breakfast host,[26] with broadcasters Duncan Garner, Rachel Smalley, Polly Gillespie, Leah Panapa, Mark Richardson, Lloyd Burr, Wilhelmina Shrimpton, Nigel Yalden, Robett Hollis, Mark Dye, Carly Flynn, Nickson Clark, Dave Letele and Dominic Bowden all named as part of the lineup.[27][28][29]

In December 2021, MediaWorks announced it had acquired Humm FM and its existing frequency (106.2 FM).[30]

On 1 January 2022, The Rock moved from 90.2 FM to 106.2 FM in Auckland and was simulcast on both frequencies until the launch of Today FM (on 90.2 FM). In addition to Auckland, Today FM broadcast on FM frequencies nationwide, including the frequency of 95.3 FM in Christchurch (moving Mai FM to 106.8 FM).[31]

On 30 March 2023, Today FM was abruptly taken off the air during Duncan Garner Today and replaced by music. At 5:12pm that same day, a pre-recorded announcement aired confirming the closure of Today FM. The frequencies of the now-former Today FM were reallocated to different brands.[32]

On 8 May 2023, the frequencies not yet allocated to other brands from Today FM became Channel X, a new music brand that focused on classic alternative music with no interruptions. Music runs 24/7 and there are no news breaks, ads or hosts.[33]

On 22 March 2024, MediaWorks confirmed that a hacker had stolen the personal data of 403,000 individuals who had participated in its online competition.[34]

Radio Otago

Radio Otago was a radio company that operated a group of local radio stations in radio markets around New Zealand from the 1970s to the late 1990s. Radio Otago was started in 1971[35] when Dunedin station 4XO was started, 4XO was originally branded as Radio Otago 4XO. During the 1980s and 1990s Radio Otago expanded their operations by starting up stations around Otago and the rest of New Zealand, and also by purchasing existing stations.

The company sold its seven North Island stations in 1997 to Energy Enterprises[36] and funds from the sale were used to purchase C93 FM Limited allowing Radio Otago to compete in the Christchurch market. In 1999, Energy Enterprises merged with Radio Pacific to become Pacific/RadioWorks Group. Then, Pacific/RadioWorks merged with Radio Otago, forming RadioWorks.[37]

These North Island stations were sold to Energy Enterprises in 1997.

Kis FM, Lakes 96FM, Hot 93 and Star FM were all rebranded as More FM in late 2004/early 2005 when RadioWorks rebranded the majority of their heritage stations as More FM.

owner
type	Private
predecessors	TVWorks (Owner of TV3) RadioWorks
foundation	June 24, 2004‡R1R‡
location city	Auckland, New Zealand
area served	New Zealand
industry	Media
divisions	Radio (9 brands) Interactive (11 websites)‡R2R‡

History

Television

Nationwide stations

Radio brands

Defunct/Sold

Local services

Regional stations

Radio Dunedin

Past stations

Networked closed down stations

Channel Z and Kiwi FM

LiveSport

Channel Z and Kiwi FM

Interactive

Websites

Former services

Television

Confidentiality and trust

See also

External links

References

Radio

Radio Otago

Radio Otago

Local brands and affiliates

Former

Former

Local brands and affiliates

Former

Former

George FM

Mai FM

Magic

More FM

The Sound

The Breeze

The Edge

The Rock

Channel X

LiveSport

Today FM

Local closed down stations

Local rebranded stations

More FM stations

The Breeze stations

More FM stations

The Breeze stations

Previous websites

Television brands

Television brands