Media Insider podcast: Inside the media and business mind of Leigh Hart - from That Guy and chaotic speed-cooking, to a snack empire
Hart - aka That Guy, and multiple other comedic personalities - opens up in this week's Media Insider podcast on his three decades in the TV, radio and newspaper industry,
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Media Insider podcast: Sky TV chief executive Sophie Moloney on rugby and netball rights, customer satisfaction, and buying Three for $1
'The Rebel Alliance is where we might be, with Three,' jokes Moloney, referencing Sky's startling announcement earlier last week that the pay-TV operator had bought free-to-air Three (TV3) and Three Now from Warner Bros Discovery for $1. The cash-free, debt-free deal is officially sealed tomorrow - Sky takes over Three, although, as Moloney suggests on the Media Insider podcast today, there will be a significant bedding-in period, and viewers should notice little change early on. But make no mistake, the new deal pits Sky TV in even more direct competition with TVNZ for audience eyeballs and still-lucrative free-to-air TV advertising revenue. At the same time, TVNZ is implementing a new digital strategy, which will see it have the capability to introduce subscription TV and take on Sky for more sports rights and possibly other programming. In today's wide-ranging discussion on the Media Insider podcast, Moloney talks about how the Three deal came to fruition and the dangers of thinking that programmes that work well on pay TV will also succeed on free-to-air TV. She discusses rebuilding customer satisfaction and loyalty following the satellite issues earlier this year. Sky customers certainly hold the company to account - there's even a Facebook page, with 10,000 followers, dedicated to complaints and issues. Meanwhile, investors have been very happy with the company's performance and the Three acquisition - the company's share price has sat at five-year highs over the past week. Where the company was punished three years ago for trying to buy radio and outdoor advertising firm MediaWorks, investors see far more natural synergies with a free-to-air and broadcast-video-on-demand (bvod) business in Three. We start the podcast by delving into sports rights - another headline-dominating issue for Sky. Moloney discusses the announcement this week that Sky has lost domestic netball rights next year - and the factors behind that - as well as the latest discussions for lucrative rugby rights. Moloney still expects TVNZ to have rights for some New Zealand rugby matches over the next five years, despite Sky's acquisition of Three. She expects TVNZ will screen some NPC domestic games - matches that Sky has declared it does not want in the new five-year deal. Instead, Sky will focus on All Blacks and Super Rugby games - with the free-to-air rights for those games now likely to appear on Three. 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. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NZ Herald
16-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Media Insider podcast: Markets with Madison host Madison Malone – why I'm going it alone; the rise of independent journalists
'I watched Judy Bailey growing up – the mother of the nation – I was obsessed. 'I used to watch the TV and from when I could speak, I said 'I'm going to do that' to my parents. I pointed at the TV and said, 'That's me'.' Malone says she saw the power of the screen at an early age. 'It was never about the fame, nor wanting to be on screen or anything. I genuinely just reckon it's the best way to speak to an audience. It's show me, don't tell me.' Over the past decade, Malone (her maiden name was Madison Reidy) has worked at Stuff, RNZ, Newshub and NZME, where she has established her Markets with Madison show and quickly built her reputation as one of New Zealand's most talented business journalists. She has a dossier of interviews with some of the biggest entrepreneurial names in New Zealand business, and even become a leading name herself: Last year, she was named as one of Forbes magazine's 30 under-30 stars in the media, marketing and advertising category in Asia. Now she's going it alone, taking her show – with a new name (it's revealed in today's podcast) – independent. She's one of a number of high-profile journalists who are forging new careers with their own direct-to-audience platforms - think the likes of podcast hosts Dom Harvey and Steven Holloway (of Between Two Beers fame, alongside Seamus Marten) and Substack newsletter hosts David Farrier and Dylan Cleaver. Malone will contract back to NZME for a few more months, but after that, she's on her own. In today's Media Insider podcast, we talk to Malone about the risk she's taking – the excitement and anxiety that comes with it – as well as her time in media to date, including the perils of a live cross; and her recent trip to the US, where she met executives from a broad range of New Zealand companies and start-ups who are taking America and the world by storm. Malone also talks about her approach to interviews and - as she builds her content model around business success - why she thinks a new generation of journalists are ignoring any notion of a tall poppy syndrome in New Zealand. She admits her new move is 'an absolute risk', but she's focused on ensuring she's fully independent. 'I really have to force myself out into this world where I am truly on my own. And that's terrifying and isolating, but I feel like if I don't do that, then why did I leave?' 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. Watch Media Insider – The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
NZ Herald
09-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Media Insider podcast: NZ Film Commission chief executive Annie Murray on the future of Kiwi moviemaking, and finding the next Boy or Tinā
NZ Film Commission boss Annie Murray opens up in today's Media Insider podcast on the future of Kiwi movies, the commission's new focus, taking NZ films to the world, and why we need to look beyond box-office takings to judge a film's success. The NZ Film Commission has front-footed its
