Nine refuses to deny imminent redundancies across broadcast division

Exclusive: Rumours are swirling of redundancies in Nine’s broadcast division but the company is remaining tight-lipped.

(Image: AAP/Luis Ascui)

Nine is remaining tight-lipped amid rumours of significant planned redundancies in its broadcast division.

Crikey understands dozens of jobs are slated to be lost.

A single sentence was all a Nine spokesperson would provide in response to Crikey’s questions about the plans: “As change occurs in the media industry, we are always evolving to best meet the needs of our business in order to remain the market leader.”

A Nine source told Crikey there was “huge cost cutting” on the company’s agenda, but that the company was hoping to avoid making cuts to news programs.

The news follows a disappointing result for the company in its most recent half-yearly results, with net profits falling 40% amid an industry-wide downturn in advertising spending. Nine did however fare better than its peers, with Seven falling 53% over the same period.

Nine will be hoping to recover some of its losses in advertising later this year, having secured the exclusive broadcast rights for $305 million to this year’s Paris Olympic Games, as well as the next five summer and winter games through to Brisbane 2032. The company’s investment in the games doubles as a gamble on its streaming assets, with coverage available on its subscription streaming service, Stan. Nine, in a separately negotiated deal, has also secured the 2024 Paralympic Games for an undisclosed sum.

Nine CEO Mike Sneesby said at the time of the announcement that “by the time we get to the Paris games, there will be more people streaming than ever before.”

Media writer Tim Burrowes recently told Crikey that while the current high-interest economic environment contributed to the advertising downturn, some companies were better placed than others to recover, having already taken a body blow courtesy of the withdrawal of Meta from its Australian news deals.

Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson told analysts recently that he was increasingly confident that the advertising downturn had reached its lowest point.