It’s not known how long O’Brien is restrained, but a normal period would be two to three months, which – in the worst-case scenario for TVNZ – would take O’Brien’s Breakfast debut out to late April.
TVNZ will be hoping an earlier release can be negotiated with Stuff, given the refreshed morning news battle this year.
The NZ Herald’s Ryan Bridge morning news show is now available on Three Now, while RNZ’s Morning Report is back, as is Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB.
Both NZME and TVNZ are also planning new business morning shows.
TVNZ, meanwhile, still has John Campbell under its roof – he is due to start as the new co-host of Morning Report in coming weeks, although RNZ has not yet confirmed a start date.
TVNZ spokeswoman Rachel Howard, when asked last week when the broadcaster hoped to have O’Brien on screen and when it might release Campbell to RNZ, said: “Regarding Tova and John, we don’t comment on employment matters, and we can’t comment on other media organisations‘ either.”
O’Brien declined to comment, and Stuff did not respond to a request for comment last night.
In the meantime, Breakfast launched its 2026 edition this week with Ali Pugh alongside co-host Chris Chang.
A highly anticipated new battleground for audience has opened up at breakfast time, with John Campbell joining RNZ Morning Report to compete against Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking; Tova O’Brien joining TVNZ Breakfast; and Ryan Bridge’s Herald show now available onThree Now. Photos / Nasa, supplied
Media restraints
While it’s questionable whether a restraint could even apply in the Tova O’Brien case – given the significantly different roles between Stuff and TVNZ – she and the broadcaster will likely be treading carefully, given her previous first-hand legal experience.
In 2022, O’Brien moved from Discovery’s TV3, where she was political editor, to be the breakfast host of MediaWorks’ fledgling Today FM radio show.
O’Brien argued her new role involved luring a substantively different audience and could not be classified as competition, as defined by her then-restraint of trade.
She claimed at the time that the restraint clause was merely punitive, preventing her from working as a journalist in any sector within New Zealand.
The Employment Relations Authority rejected that argument, siding with Discovery that O’Brien’s radio role appealed to a significant portion of Discovery’s target market of a younger generation of consumers.
“ROT clauses are inherently difficult to enforce given the significant effect they can have on an employee’s ability to work in their chosen field and the effect they could have on competition generally,” said law firm Lane Neave, in commentary on the 2022 O’Brien case.
“Nonetheless, we are not surprised to see a three-month ROT for a senior high-profile, presumably well-paid role, upheld as reasonable.
“Discovery was able to show that it has legitimate proprietary interests in business relationships built up by Ms O’Brien, goodwill in the New Zealand marketplace, and confidential information, including Discovery’s editorial priorities and future plans.
“The ROT was designed to protect those interests, and in our view it would have been unusual for the authority to regard that as excessive.”
Sky TV – hope yet for HBO Max?
The White Lotus stars Sydney Sweeney (Olivia) and Brittany O’Grady (Paula).
Fear not if you’ve just forked out $240 for an annual Sky TV Neon subscription.
Sky says it is in “confidential discussions” with Warner Bros Discovery, indicating a new deal for WBD’s HBO Max content (including The Pitt and The White Lotus) is still on the table.
Potentially.
There has been widespread speculation that Sky’s existing deal for HBO Max programmes, due to expire mid-year, might not be renewed.
Publicly listed Sky TV has been reluctant to provide any detail whatsoever about what’s going on.
This week it announced to the NZX that it had renewed and expanded a deal with Paramount, but it has been suspiciously quiet on the WBD/HBO Max front.
“We have a long‑standing, multi‑faceted relationship with Warner Bros Discovery and are in confidential negotiations,” Sky spokeswoman Karina Healy said yesterday.
Questioned on whether Sky should also be updating the NZX – or customers at least – on a critical programming contract, Sky’s response was: “We take our responsibilities as a listed organisation extremely seriously, and any suggestion otherwise is simply incorrect.”
Complaint over TVNZ Tom Phillips coverage rejected
Fugitive Tom Phillips was shot in a police shootout in 2025.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority has rejected a complaint that TVNZ breached the privacy of Tom Phillips’ children during two news reports following the deadly police shootout with the fugitive.
A viewer, Sarah Money, complained the state broadcaster breached the children’s privacy by stating they were being “co-operative” with police and by later broadcasting images of the campsite uncovered by police.
“Applying the privacy standard, the authority found these limited details did not attract a reasonable expectation of privacy, noting they had been released by police and were in the public domain, and were not intimate or sensitive in nature,” said the authority.
“While acknowledging the children’s vulnerability and lack of consent to these details being broadcast, given the significant public interest and concern for the children’s wellbeing, it could reasonably be expected that this limited information about their demeanour and where they were found may be disclosed.”
Former ad man skewers awards obsession in new novel
Author and former adman Paul Catmur. Photo / Dan Max
One of New Zealand’s best-known admen has penned his first novel, taking aim at the advertising industry in which he spent 30 years – and its obsession with awards.
Paul Catmur’s The Gutter Bar might not have featured in the Ockham book award finalists list this week, but his satirical take on the agency world is a rousing read.
It’s also caused a stir on LinkedIn, where one well-known overseas creative executive took offence to the premise of the book, claiming he couldn’t identify with the scenario or characters Catmur was portraying.
That social media post was removed after a flurry of responses and comments questioning the executive’s somewhat sensitive and sniffy take.
The Gutter Bar tells the story of Ben Putney, who, at the tender age of 45, is fighting off rivals and colleagues and trying to save his advertising career, with an ever-so-dodgy plan to win the annual Cannes Lions Grand Prix award in France.
Mixed in with his own personal strife – including a failing marriage and a famous headline-hogging father – Putney’s exploits in Cannes make for a hilarious tale. As a blurb for the book teases, “How far would you cheat to win?”
The advertising industry is obsessed with awards and Catmur has no qualms about skewering it.
Paul Catmur’s book is available on Amazon, and – shortly – through Unity Books in Auckland.
“I always wanted to write in longer form – writing 30-second ads for 30 years gets a bit constricting,” he told Media Insider.
“I’d always wanted to do longer form and all the stories from inside the jury room of an industry that was obsessed with awards and all the silliness of it.
“I thought it would make a good story. I thought people would be interested to hear some of the stuff that goes on, and people within the industry could laugh at the way things are and recognise some of the characters.”
In an earlier social media post, Catmur said while the book was “not meant to be a hatchet job on the industry that gave me a living, I would frequently be bemused by some of its absurdities”.
“I worked in advertising for 30-odd years and I met some wonderful people as colleagues, clients and hangers-on, many of whom I am lucky enough to still count as friends. However, wonderful people do not always make for the best stories, and in the book I have tended to focus on the rogues, loveable or not.
“The characters in the book are not exaggerated; they are condensed. By that I mean that their traits are squashed down into bite-sized chunks and their behaviour becomes stronger to make a point. But they are based on real people or, in most cases, amalgams of them.
“Just about everything within the book about the industry I have experienced. The ambition, the duplicity, the manipulation, and, of course, the fun.”
Catmur says he’s seen the skulduggery first hand – including the attempted horsetrading of votes and exaggerated claims of an ad campaign’s success.
“They may make out that it changed society because in Cannes, you don’t know. If you’re writing about New Zealand, you say it became a national phenomenon throughout New Zealand. Nobody on the Cannes jury is aware whether it did or whether it didn’t.”
Catmur still puzzles over the obsession with awards.
“I was – dismayed may be the wrong word – but surprised to see that a few years ago, Marketing magazine in New Zealand asked marketing directors what they thought of as the most important aspect that they look for in an agency.
“Number 1 was creativity, and number 2 was effectiveness. I was staggered that clients would think that creativity mattered more to them than whether or not the ads that they run sell the products that they have.
“But that was the way it was. I guess it helps. As a client, you can become famous too, because if you have your name attached to a highly awarded piece of work, then that helps your profile.”
Catmur – a former executive creative director for DDB who later co-founded his own agency, Barnes, Catmur & Friends – loved his time in the industry, and still hangs out with some of his former colleagues.
“A lot of friends in the industry and a lot of friends throughout the world … have read and been very nice about the book.
“I was getting too old and too tired for it. I think it’s really more of a young person’s game. It’s constant, constant pressure. Some you win, some you lose … but great, great fun.”
The Gutter Bar is available through Amazon and, shortly, Unity Books in Auckland.
Talking of awards…
Less than half an hour before I spoke to Catmur this week, an email coincidentally popped into my inbox from Dentsu (the global agency that acquired Barnes, Catmur & Friends several years ago), asserting itself as the most-awarded media agency in New Zealand in 2025.
Its press release stated that the agency had taken home 30 media awards across local and global shows – “more than any other agency in the market”.
It listed prizes from the likes of Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, the Beacons, IAB Awards, Google Agency Excellence Awards and the NZ HR Awards.
I followed up with Dentsu, and yes indeed, some poor person had compiled an Excel spreadsheet listing Dentsu’s awards up against those from 22 other agencies.
Dentsu media managing director Richard Hale said in a statement that while awards were “not the goal, they remain a powerful indicator of impact”.
Truth is stranger than fiction?
The life of Brian (FM)
Andrew Jeffries with U2’s Bono.
He’s met and worked alongside some of the biggest names in music across the globe. In recent years, he’s juggled an international role with iHeartRadio while expanding the homegrown Kiwi cult station Brian FM – all while based out of Blenheim.
Now Andrew Jeffries and his wife, Vicky, have announced a new media move in the South Island, acquiring West Coast station Coast FM (not to be confused with NZME’s nationwide brand Coast).
Jeffries was atop Sewell Peak, overlooking Greymouth, when Media Insider caught up with him this month. Riggers were mounting new antennae for Coast FM at the site.
Andrew Jeffries on top of Sewell Peak, near Greymouth, on the South Island’s West Coast.
And while Jeffries has brushed shoulders with the likes of Ariana Grande, Metallica, Rod Stewart, Chris Martin, Pink and Bono, his immediate concern was a massive spider in the corner of the technology hut on top of the mountain. “It’s massive!”
Arachnids aside, Jeffries is excited about a return to his traditional radio roots.
He has acquired Coast FM from local Mark Kertsen, with the aim of building the station’s community roots.
Jeffries says it will continue to operate separately from Brian FM, which has established itself in some 15 regions since starting in Marlborough in 2013.
Brian FM is mainly in regions in the South Island and the central-lower North Island, with an eclectic playlist and a mantra of “playing what we feel like”. It was borne out of a group of mates mulling business ideas and it has no DJs, or commercials (there are several sponsors).
The West Coast Coast FM, on the other hand, will remain as a traditional grassroots radio station.
“This isn’t just about radio — it’s about investing in the people, stories, and spirit of the West Coast,” Jeffries says.
“The appeal of Coast was for us to continue local community broadcasting, and add some elements of energy and enthusiasm and positivity back into the region through that.
“The West Coast is an area that gets readily isolated – it doesn’t take much for a bit of flooding and some slips, and suddenly, you know, they’re all self-reliant.
“It’d be a shame to lose the local beacon of Coast FM and not have that continue to be a local point of reference for folks during the good times for entertainment and the tough times for community information.”
Coast FM has three staff; Jeffries says he’ll look to add more DJs and shows alongside existing talent.
“Our whole business proposition for the West Coast is retain Coast, add equipment, add reliability, add some more DJs when we get the opportunity, and away we go.”
Host Dave Williamson said: “We’ve always said Coast FM belongs to the people of the Coast. I’m excited to be part of this new chapter with Andrew and Vicky – continuing on the good work Colin Warren and Mark Kersten have put in across Coast FM’s 30-year history. This new future means we can keep doing what we love.”
For Jeffries, it’s a rewarding return to community radio. That’s how he started out in the industry – as an inquisitive schoolboy in Whanganui, wandering into a local radio station looking for work.
He was hooked from the start.
“I started in radio in Whanganui, and my first job was talking to the local community about what’s happening in the local community.
“That still rings very true to me even though we’ve been fortunate enough to play with some of the biggest stations in the world,” he says.
He and Vicky spent more than 25 years away from New Zealand, initially in London and then Los Angeles, working in various senior music and radio roles.
Before his return to New Zealand, Jeffries worked as a programmer for iHeartRadio’s US West Coast network and remains employed by the platform.
He and Vicky have rubbed shoulders with some of the industry’s biggest names.
“I’ve got fantastic contacts through my time in the UK and the US and I still do regular stuff with them, and all those things come together.”
Andrew Jeffries with Pink.
He talks about the likes of Chris Martin and Dave Grohl being easy to get along with.
“The great thing is, being from New Zealand, I think we have a rather humble approach about everything, and that’s something that the New Zealanders should be very proud of.
“You end up in a situation where you are in amongst some of the world’s biggest stars like Elton John or Jon Bon Jovi or Pink or Ed Sheeran or Lady Gaga, and the list goes on and on and on, and they relate very well to people who are just normal people.”
Editor-at-large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including managing editor, NZ Herald editor and Herald on Sunday editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.