Photo: South Pacific Pictures
TVNZ has confirmed Shortland Street will air just three episodes a week in 2025, a compromise to keep the long-running drama alive.
NZ On Air has injected $3 million in public media funding to secure the programme's 34th season.
Shortland Street has aired five episodes a week, Monday through Friday, since 1992. But industry insiders say the programme was almost cut as part of TVNZ's latest restructure, which resulted in the cancellation of Fair Go and Sunday.
"It was on the cards that we could lose Shortland Street," Screen Production and Development Association president Irene Gardiner said.
"With the big drop in advertising revenue, TVNZ just couldn't afford to fully fund it on their own anymore."
It was thanks to a last-minute policy tweak by Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith and a life-saving cash injection by NZ On Air that Shortland Street narrowly avoided cancellation.
"A lot of people have been working very hard behind the scenes to save Shortland Street," Gardiner said.
"Goldsmith has announced they will tweak the Screen Production Rebate very slightly to make Shortland Street eligible, and NZ On Air has come to the party a bit too."
The Screen Production Rebate gives domestic productions a 40 percent cash rebate on expenses, but Shortland Street did npt meet the threshold until Goldsmith adjusted the programme earlier this week.
Gardiner said Shortland Street was culturally significant to New Zealand and remained a critical breeding ground for talent in the local screen industry.
For its 2021 season, Shortland Street employed 383 people in casual, contract, and permanent crew roles. It employed 190 actors, including the 21 core cast members.
South Pacific Pictures, which produces Shortland Street, had entered a consultation period to consider how the new schedule would impact staff.
"I'm really, really relieved that we have still got a show," chief executive Kelly Martin told Midday Report.
"We've got another year, we've got work we still have to do, and we have a creative challenge ahead of us... quite frankly, in this current media environment, that's a win."
Martin admitted she was nervous about the future.
"We're really lucky we have such a strong and successful show as a base that we're working with, but as you look around the market... it ain't pretty," she said. "We're all a bit nervous, it's a tough time."
She said fans of Shortland Street could expect more intense episodes to make up for the reduced schedule.
"We intend, creatively, getting the show on steroids," she said. "I have such faith in the creative team, and this will be an opportunity to take it up a notch."
TVNZ chief executive Jodi O'Donnell said the decision was influenced by the broadcasters new digital-first strategy.
"The TV environment is changing fast and we're moving with our viewers," she said in a statement.
"We have an extremely engaged online audience for Shortland Street and we want to take the show successfully into the future and ensure its ongoing relevance," she said.
The 34th season of Shortland Street will start in February, but South Pacific Pictures and TVNZ were unable to confirm which days the programme would air.
Martin said the they would focus on quality over quantity.
"Fewer episodes mean a greater focus on creating the storylines that will cut through with audiences in a competitive market," she said.
"We'll bring all the things Shorty viewers love on steroids for three days per week, with stories that dig deep into real-life and topical issues in New Zealand."
