Up to 35 staff are set to be made redundant after a decision by WIN News to close 4 regional news rooms was communicated to staff on Wednesday night.
An employee of WIN stated via twitter, “Tonight, the camera operators, editors, and journalists from 4 WIN newsrooms were told that they wouldn’t have a job to return to from next Friday 28th. It’s a sad day for regional news, but we WILL push on and go out with a bang.”
NSW newsrooms in Orange, Wagga, Albury and Queensland’s Wide Bay would close.
WIN TV is Australia’s largest regional network, the affiliate of CBS owned Network 10 and broadcasts in 29 markets across the country.
CBS is an American owned company which first went to air in 1929 via radio and 1941 via television.
In late 2012, Ten reported a loss of $12.9m as it battled poor advertising markets and failed to hold larger audience numbers. They made positions at the station redundant and said that production may become centralised.
On 15 June 2015, Foxtel (co-owned by News Corp) bought 15% shares in Ten Network Holdings, pending the approval from the ACCC. Prior to the acquisition, Discovery backed out from bidding partnership with Foxtel. In July 2015, Paul Anderson was announced as the new Chief Executive Officer.
On 28 August 2017, Ten’s administrators announced that US media company CBS Corporation (which had a 33% share in the multichannel Eleven and was Ten’s largest creditor) had entered into a binding agreement to purchase the company for $123 million. CBS refinanced Ten’s existing debt including guarantor fees to billionaire shareholders James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon, and existing loans from the Commonwealth Bank. Shareholders in Ten Network Holdings lost their investment.
It is a sad time for all of the journalists and staff at WIN News, let’s hope that they can continue on in their respective fields in the future. Regional NSW needs Regional News!
