Discovery buys Mediaworks TV arm

Newshub reports:

New Zealand’s largest independent commercial broadcaster MediaWorks and the global leader of real-life entertainment Discovery Inc have reached a binding agreement on the sale of MediaWorks’ free-to-air TV business.

The transaction is subject to a number of pre-completion approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The MediaWorks TV acquisition will be Discovery’s most significant free-to-air investment in the New Zealand market to date. It includes entertainment channels Three and Bravo, streaming service ThreeNow, and multi-platform news and current affairs service Newshub, as well as the further channels Three+1, Bravo+1, The Edge TV and The Breeze TV.

Discovery will continue the existing strong partnership with NBCUniversal for the Bravo channel joint venture.

In the New Zealand market, Discovery currently operates a portfolio of six pay-TV channels including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Food Network, Living and Discovery Turbo and two free-to-air channels HGTV and Choice TV.

This is a great outcome. Tv3 and Newshub get an owner that is a media company, not an investment company. Discover boosts it presence here, and TV3 and Newshub get to continue.

I’ve noticed this year that Newshub has broken a huge number of exclusive stories, especially around Covid-19. We are well served by their presence.