NZ Media Ownership 2012-17: He Who Pays the Piper? ....

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AUT’s Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy   New Zealand media ownership report 2017 reveals a considerable shift in the pattern of New Zealand media ownership. For the first time in seven years, the number of privately/ independently owned media outlets exceeded the number of publicly (shareholder) and Crown owned companies.

In 2017, there were seven privately owned media companies: BusinessDesk, NBR, The Spinoff, Allied Press, Newsroom, Bauer Media and MediaWorks - five of these were locally owned. Additionally, Scoop was owned by a New Zealand based non-profit charitable trust.

The media market maintained some competition as the Commerce Commission ruled against NZME & Fairfax and Sky TV & Vodafone mergers. However, at the time of writing it was not clear how the competitive landscape will evolve. In October, NZME & Fairfax took their fight to the High Court, and that decision was pending when the report was published. [The High Court upheld its earlier judgement in Sept. 2018, denying the merger.) In June, Sky TV and Vodafone decided to abandon their merger.

The report notes that the digital news market expanded during 2017. There was more available digital news and current affairs content for the public. Yet, at the same time the print newspaper market shrunk with regional and local newspapers reducing staff and publication dates. Commercial television broadcasting showed signs of distress.

New Zealand media ownership: key trends and events (continued).