Newshub will close later this year after decades of broadcasting award-winning reporting and having launched the careers of some of New Zealand's most formidable journalists.
* This story was first published on February 28. An updated version was re-published on April 10 following new developments.
A possible deal between Newshub's owner and another media company has not been ruled out, however, "at this stage there is no deal," according to Warner Bros Discovery NZ boss Glen Kyne, and therefore the newsroom will air its last show on July 5.
"Our door has been open to discussions, and some conversations have taken place. They are continuing to take place in confidence and at this stage there is no deal."
The ultimate fates of the newsroom's most prominent stars - Mike McRoberts, Samantha Hayes, Ryan Bridge, and Patrick Gower - remain unknown.
1980s
Launched as 3 National News, alongside the channel of the same name, the upstart newsroom posed the first serious challenge to state-owned TVNZ in the late 1980s.
Simon Mercep says there is "genuine concern" for those affected at Newshub, with the rival news networks driving each other to be better. (Source: 1News)
Its first night-time bulletin went to air on November 27, 1989 and was only 30 minutes long, competing with Paul Holmes' show on TV1.
1990s
As the country's first independent TV broadcaster, TV3 faced bankruptcy only a year after launch as funding dried up and an attempt to list the company on the stock market fizzled.
However, the news from Flower St would continue as financiers worked to keep the channel on air.
Later in the 1990s, TV3 beat TVNZ to move to an hourly national bulletin, a norm that would continue until the present day. Canadian media conglomerate CanWest would eventually take 100% ownership of the channel later in the decade.
Newsreader John Hawkesby would help the broadcaster find a stronger footing in the market, before he jumped ship to host 1News, in a hasty move that then saw young journalist John Campbell slotted in to co-host with Carol Hirschfeld in 1998.
TV3 sued TVNZ over Hawkesby's poaching before the two parties later settled out of court.
2000s
The years ahead in the early noughties would be strong for TV3 as the advertising market held strong and the channel established itself as a challenging competitor against TVNZ — usually also broadcasting to a younger audience.
In 2002, a blistering interview between Campbell and Helen Clark over genetic modification, which involved the then-prime minister later labelling the interviewer a "sanctimonious little creep", became an infamous moment in political history.
Three years later, presenting duo Campbell and Hirschfeld left the 6pm news hour, and went on to launch Campbell Live in a three-way race with TVNZ's Close Up and upstart Prime, who had poached Paul Holmes for a new show in the 7pm timeslot.
In their place, Hilary Barry and McRoberts became the new faces of TV3's news.
Two years later, Australian investment firm Ironbridge Capital launched a takeover bid for MediaWorks, TV3's parent company, which valued the business at nearly NZ$1 billion (inflation-adjusted).
It came just before the economy and advertising markets faced a major downturn resulting from the global financial crisis.
In 2007, TV3 launched its first attempt at a breakfast programme - Sunrise - to compete with TV1's Breakfast. It was unsuccessful and was replaced three years later. The programme's last hosts were Carly Flynn and Oliver Driver.
In the years ahead, both TV3 and the investment firm that owned it faced trouble as television advertising began declining and the economy limped back to life.
2010s
By 2013, MediaWorks was saddled with $700 million of debt and placed into receivership.
In 2014, controversial broadcaster Paul Henry was lured to the channel and was part of a plan to replace Nightline, the channel's long-running late-night programme.
Later he would be tapped to host a new breakfast programme.
The company's newsroom was also about to face a period of major turmoil.
Issues blew into the public arena in April 2015 when MediaWorks announced Campbell Live would be placed under review due to declining ratings.
A full-blown campaign began from parts of Campbell's audience. It saw petitions, protests, and a spike in ratings for the programme. However, it wasn't enough to save the show from being culled from schedules two months later.
The show was replaced by a new one dubbed Story.
That show would be culled after just over a year on air - alongside David Farrier's Newsworthy.
Over the next year, the scrapping of the company's investigative reporting unit, 3D, the launch and failure of gossip website Scout, and the loss of long-standing news boss Mark Jennings, would leave TV3's newsroom in dire straits.
At the end of the year, Three News rebranded itself as Newshub, as part of a push to create a "fully integrated" television, online and radio newsroom.
In April 2016, news presenter Barry resigned from TV3 after 23 years. She later explained her unhappiness with the job losses.
"I felt like I was in this constant grieving process," Barry told Next magazine.
"You just get to a stage... I couldn't take it any more. I actually couldn't take it. It was time for me to go, to preserve my own sanity."
Just a few days after Barry's departure, MediaWorks chief executive Mark Weldon quit, telling the company's board, "the personal cost is now too high to continue in this role".
An adaptation of the Australian show The Project would launch several months later.
By 2019, however, prospects for Newshub and TV3 looked terminal as owner MediaWorks said it was up for sale. Reports suggested the station could shut down if none could be found.
Newshub chief Hal Crawford wrote an impassioned plea for the Government to "act now", suggesting journalism was on a doomed path.
"I'll be damned if I lay off one more person or say 'no' to one more important assignment without expressing it: TV in New Zealand is broken. And it could have a big impact on news in this country," he said.
"The market can't support the newsrooms we have right now, and already we are probably failing to cover what we need to cover. It's anyone's guess what percentage of important court cases aren't reported on. We don't account for what we don't know."
2020s
In November 2020, political editor Tova O'Brien's sharp interview with disgraced former MP Jami-Lee Ross made headlines around the world.
About 12 months later, MediaWorks found its buyer, in the form of global media conglomerate Discovery. Amid a buoyed advertising market, Newshub re-launched its midday news bulletin, added an 8pm show, and re-formatted its morning show AM.
However, the recession and a fall in advertising revenues signalled cuts ahead.
Last August, Newshub axed its 5.30am and midday news bulletins.
Two months later, 7pm show The Project was cancelled, cutting two dozen jobs in the process. That month, senior news head Sarah Bristow resigned after nine years. Her replacement, Richard Sutherland, was brought on in an "interim" capacity.
Cutbacks began appearing across the newsroom as a sinking lid policy curtailed new hires without high-level approval.
A replacement show to fill the 7pm slot vacated by The Project, planned to be hosted by former AM host Ryan Bridge, has never made it to air. The broadcaster's flagship weekend politics show, Newshub Nation, would fail to return as expected in February.
On Wednesday, newsroom staff were called to an emergency meeting and told it will be all over from June.
"We simply cannot afford to produce news in-house. That's the fact," said Warner Brothers Discovery's senior vice president Glen Kyne.
Thirty-four years later, it's unclear what will now fill Newshub's 6pm timeslot on Three.
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