SunMedia is a media company in

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

, New Zealand. Founded by Claire and Brian Rogers in 2000, the company was acquired by

NZME New Zealand Media and Entertainment (abbreviated NZME) is a New Zealand newspaper, radio and digital media business. It was launched in 2014 as the merger of APN New Zealand (a division of APN News & Media), the Radio Network (formerly part of ...

in 2024. SunMedia's assets consist of the SunLive website, '' The Weekend Sun'', ''Coast & Country News'' and ''New Farm Dairies'' newspapers, and ''Waterline'' and ''MySpace'' magazines.

History

SunMedia was founded around 2000 by Tauranga couple Claire and Brian Rogers. Their SunLive platform and newspapers operate in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

region of the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

. Following Brian's death in 2022, his wife Claire continued managing the company. On 5 March 2024, SunMedia and its assets were acquired by the media company

. As part of the purchase, SunMedia's 28 employees including 17 permanent/fixed term staff received conditional employment offers from NZME. Rogers said that the NZME acquisition would preserve the viability of local journalism and advertising in Tauranga and the surrounding region. NZME CEO Michael Boggs said that the acquisition demonstrated NZME's commitment to local journalism and its publishing strategy of serving local communities and advertisers, and providing a digital news offering. Between 2008 and 2024, SunMedia's office was based at the historic Bond Store on 1 Strand Street, Tauranga. The Category 1 heritage building was first built as a storage and customs facility in 1883. Following NZME's acquisition, SunMedia relocated its operations to NZME's office on 405 Cameron Road. SunMedia also donated its newspaper archives to the Tauranga City Library.

Assets and organisation

As of June 2024, SunMedia's assets consists of the SunLive and Rotorua Now websites, the newspapers '' The Weekend Sun'', ''Coast & Country News'' and ''New Farm Dairies'', and the magazines ''Waterline'' and ''MySpace''. The company also had 28 employees including 17 permanent/fixed term staff as of March 2024. ''The Weekend Sun'' is a free weekend newspaper while ''Coast & Country News'' is a rural news publication targeting farmers, orchardists, lifestylers, suppliers, contractors and rural service industries. ''New Farm Dairies'' is a building guide aimed at new dairy farmers. ''Waterline'' is a watersports and boating magazine while ''MySpace'' is a free magazine targeting builders and renovators.

Notes and references

External links

{{New Zealand Media and Entertainment New Zealand Media and Entertainment 2000 establishments in New Zealand Mass media in Tauranga Mass media companies of New Zealand Newspaper companies of New Zealand Companies based in Tauranga