The American owners of Three, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), announced in February it would shutter the station's news and journalism, saying it could no longer stomach the costs against weakened advertising revenue.
Last week, WBD turned down a proposal from leading Newshub journalists that would have kept Newshub alive, but with vastly scaled-back costs and output.
With Newshub set to close, all eyes were trained on whether another media company would step in to provide Three with a news service.
On Tuesday morning, Stuff leapt into the breach, announcing it had reached agreement with WBD to provide a daily news bulletin.
"Our proposal to WBD was to deliver high-quality news now and a news product for the future," Stuff owner Sinead Boucher said.
"We will look to innovate not replicate the 6 o'clock news, building on our expertise in digital audiences and engagement and our ability to deliver live and lively news 24/7 all over Aotearoa.
"Newshub and Three, over an incredible 35 years of journalism, has been known for gutsy, independent, non-partisan reporting, values that we share and will proudly continue to uphold."
Three, previously known as TV3, are plucky underdogs in NZ's media landscape.
Three's news arm has always been underfunded compared to state-backed broadcaster TVNZ, but has maintained its own by producing pull-no-punches reporting of national significance.
Around 900,000 Kiwis watched or read Newshub stories each week, including a website which was more popular than that of state-owned TVNZ.
The last Newshub-produced bulletin will take place on July 5, with Stuff's first show the following evening.
The outsourcing deal means Newshub journalists and employees will lose their jobs - reports suggest this could be between 200 and 300 people - but with an expectation some will be offered employment with Stuff.
Stuff runs NZ's most popular news website, and daily newspapers in several cities, including Wellington and Christchurch.
While predominantly an online and print publisher, it has grown an audio and podcasting arm in recent years, and with this deal, make a giant splash into broadcasting.
Stuff was owned by Australian news companies Fairfax and then Nine from 2003 to 2020, when Ms Boucher led a management buyout for $1.
WBD head of networks Glen Kyne said there were "a number" of proposals to produce Three's 6pm bulletin, with Sky TV and NZME reportedly in the mix.
"We were deeply aware of the dampening effect the Newshub closure would have on media plurality and we're very pleased that New Zealanders will be able to have a choice about what news they watch at 6pm," he said.
"We also saw clear editorial and cultural alignment between Stuff and Newshub which extends to embodying the spirit of TV3 through nearly 35 years and generations of journalists, planners, producers, crew, and owners."
