As its news section gets ready for a significant reorganisation, Channel Nine plans to eliminate 20 positions next year.
Last Thursday, staff members reportedly received a briefing about the changes and were informed that two dozen of their coworkers will soon be laid off.
According to the Herald Sun, employees learned of the layoffs while caterers offered them “sushi and sandwiches” to ease the pain.
Right now, morale is low. “We got sushi and sandwiches while receiving the news that 20 of our colleagues were being made redundant,” another Nine employee stated. “The ratings have been shaky lately, too, with the race tightening up with Channel 7.”
Other insiders, meantime, are reportedly upset with the fact that Nine moved to a two-star reporting team for their Melbourne 6pm bulletin.
This week, Channel Nine employees were reportedly fed “sushi and sandwiches” despite learning that twenty of their coworkers will shortly be laid go.
After taking Peter Hitchner’s place in 2024, Alicia Loxley and Tom Steinfort’s faces have been plastered all over the city in an extravagant billboard advertising campaign. Despite shrinking, they continue to have two lucrative newsreader contracts. One is plenty for other areas, such as Sydney, according to a veteran of the Nine.
Channel Nine has been contacted by Daily Mail for comment.
Last week, Channel Nine announced a significant reorganisation of its news division that will affect all roles and eliminate 20 positions.
Fiona Dear, executive director of news and current affairs, warned that all TV news employees would be impacted, with title changes, retraining, and changes to every function.
More than 100 distinct job titles in news and current affairs will be reduced to just nine more general responsibilities as a result of the makeover, which will significantly simplify the newsroom’s organisational structure.
Employees will be divided into multiskilled roles such story editor, digital story editor, rundown editor, and multimedia journalist under the new paradigm.
The newsrooms in Sydney and Canberra will be the first to receive voluntary layoffs.
Is it reasonable for Channel Nine to reduce employment while heavily investing on advertising campaigns and celebrity newsreaders?
Other insiders, meantime, are reportedly upset with the fact that Nine moved to a two-star reporting team for their Melbourne 6pm bulletin. Alicia Loxley and Tom Steinfort, hosts of 9News Melbourne, are shown.
“We are in the midst of a bold and ambitious multi-year transformation program that will differentiate Nine news and current affairs from our competitors and entrench us as a global news leader,” Dear stated. “This represents the largest investment in Nine news and current affairs in decades, with new technology, systems, and workflows revolutionising the way we produce and deliver news.”
Channel Nine said in November that teams will be combined and 50 positions in the streaming and broadcast division would be eliminated.
At the time, Amanda Laing, Nine’s head of streaming and broadcast, stated that she could not rule out more layoffs. “That is a delicate dance.” “It’s not just a matter of ‘Can we get more juice out of the fruit.’ If you cut costs too deeply, you will harm the things that are required to drive the revenue,” she stated.
In reality, it’s about development. Growing subscribers, revenue, and EBITDA contribution from these companies are all important aspects of true growth.
That month, Laing informed the team via an internal email that the operational model was being examined.
It was an effort to “reduce duplication, drive greater collaboration, and deliver commercial growth for the Nine Group,” according to her.
“I ask you to be cognisant and mindful of your colleagues as we navigate this change, even though only some teams and individuals are impacted by this,” she wrote.
