The Country's Jamie Mackay made an appearance at the Primary Industry Summit and Awards in Wellington.

Listen to him unpack the highlights of day one here today.

LISTEN ABOVE

The Country's Jamie Mackay made an appearance at the Primary Industry Summit and Awards in Wellington.
Listen to him unpack the highlights of day one here today.
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the first day of the Primary Industry Summit and Awards

Plenty of excitement in Dunedin as the city prepares for tomorrow’s match.

The All Blacks are facing off against England in their first test of 2024 - the first test of Scott Robertson’s tenure as coach.

Jason Pine is broadcasting live from the stadium this weekend, and told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the team picked for this game was pretty predictable, designed to get Razor’s era as coach off to a good start.

"I think it’s a good team, there’s probably not a lot that most people would have changed in the, in the 15 or the 23.”

LISTEN ABOVE

Plenty of excitement in Dunedin as the city prepares for tomorrow’s match. 
The All Blacks are facing off against England in their first test of 2024 - the first test of Scott Robertson’s tenure as coach. 
Jason Pine is broadcasting live from the stadium this weekend, and told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the team picked for this game was pretty predictable, designed to get Razor’s era as coach off to a good start. 
"I think it’s a good team, there’s probably not a lot that most people would have changed in the, in the 15 or the 23.” 
LISTEN ABOVE

Jason Pine: Weekend Sport Host ahead of this weekend's All Blacks test against England

The UK Labour Party has won county's election in a commanding fashion.

The tally of Sir Keir Starmer's party's seats has now topped 360 seats —it needed 326 for a majority— and he will become Prime Minister.

Starmer says they're here to return Britain to the service of working people.

UK Correspondent Peter Anderson told Heather du Plessis-Allan that they’re expecting, based on figures so far, for Labour to end up with about 410 seats in the 650 seat Parliament, giving them a majority of 170 seats.

In comparison, he said, the Conservatives are looking to have shed more than 200 seats, and will likely have a rather lowly 140/150 MPs at most.

LISTEN ABOVE

The UK Labour Party has won county's election in a commanding fashion. 
The tally of Sir Keir Starmer's party's seats has now topped 360 seats —it needed 326 for a majority— and he will become Prime Minister. 
Starmer says they're here to return Britain to the service of working people. 
UK Correspondent Peter Anderson told Heather du Plessis-Allan that they’re expecting, based on figures so far, for Labour to end up with about 410 seats in the 650 seat Parliament, giving them a majority of 170 seats. 
In comparison, he said, the Conservatives are looking to have shed more than 200 seats, and will likely have a rather lowly 140/150 MPs at most. 
LISTEN ABOVE

Peter Anderson: UK Correspondent on Labour's landslide victory in the UK election

Reluctantly, I think saving Shortland Street was the right thing for now.

The news on Shorty today is that it’s been saved, but it will go down to three episodes a week.

What's saved it is taxpayer money: $3 million from NZ On Air and then be eligible for a rebate from the Screen Production Grant which must be about $6 or $7 million.

Which means we’re pumping in around about $10 million in taxpayer money to save a soap opera.

I'm reluctant about this because I generally don't think we should prop up failing businesses. If they can’t make a buck it’s because not enough people like the product,

in which case it should be allowed to die.

But... I think there’s an exception this time.

Because it might just be possible that Shorty may be able to pay its own way again... maybe.

The reason I say that is because it’s not that Shorty is unpopular, it actually has a lot of people watching. 

The last figures that I can find are from last year, 79K people in their key demographic watched it on TV2, which doesn’t sound that impressive, but then you add in the streaming numbers of TVNZ+: 455K a week.

And well, that is impressive.

By comparison, at the same time TVNZ News only earned 180K streams, even though the news has got two extra episodes a week, Shorty was beating it by 2.5 times.

The problem isn’t that it’s unpopular.

The problem is that TVNZ hasn’t figured out how to actually make enough money from the people watching it on TVNZ+. It knows how to get money from TV2 ads, but it doesn’t know how to properly monetise online yet.

So... Shorty street is only guaranteed for another year. 

I dunno if that's enough time for TVNZ to figure out how to earn more money on the app, but I hope it does.

Because it would be a pity to lose a show that is still watched by that many kiwis, and that has trained some of our best acting talent: Temuera Morrison, KJ Apa, Thomasin McKenzie, Craig Parker, Martin Henderson, Robyn Malcolm.

And which is, frankly, is one of the few shows left actually reflecting us back to ourselves.

Reluctantly, I think saving Shortland Street was the right thing for now. 
The news on Shorty today is that it’s been saved, but it will go down to three episodes a week. 
What's saved it is taxpayer money: $3 million from NZ On Air and then be eligible for a rebate from the Screen Production Grant which must be about $6 or $7 million. 
Which means we’re pumping in around about $10 million in taxpayer money to save a soap opera. 
I'm reluctant about this because I generally don't think we should prop up failing businesses. If they can’t make a buck it’s because not enough people like the product, 
in which case it should be allowed to die. 
But... I think there’s an exception this time. 
Because it might just be possible that Shorty may be able to pay its own way again... maybe. 
The reason I say that is because it’s not that Shorty is unpopular, it actually has a lot of people watching.  
The last figures that I can find are from last year, 79K people in their key demographic watched it on TV2, which doesn’t sound that impressive, but then you add in the streaming numbers of TVNZ+: 455K a week. 
And well, that is impressive. 
By comparison, at the same time TVNZ News only earned 180K streams, even though the news has got two extra episodes a week, Shorty was beating it by 2.5 times. 
The problem isn’t that it’s unpopular. 
The problem is that TVNZ hasn’t figured out how to actually make enough money from the people watching it on TVNZ+. It knows how to get money from TV2 ads, but it doesn’t know how to properly monetise online yet. 
So... Shorty street is only guaranteed for another year.  
I dunno if that's enough time for TVNZ to figure out how to earn more money on the app, but I hope it does. 
Because it would be a pity to lose a show that is still watched by that many kiwis, and that has trained some of our best acting talent: Temuera Morrison, KJ Apa, Thomasin McKenzie, Craig Parker, Martin Henderson, Robyn Malcolm. 
And which is, frankly, is one of the few shows left actually reflecting us back to ourselves.

Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the first day of the Primary Industry Summit and Awards

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