Fairfax Media and NZME will have to renegotiate the terms of any merger if they win their appeal against the New Zealand's High Court's decision to block their attempt to combine.
Fairfax's NZ subsidiary Stuff decided last month to sell or close more than a third of its print publications to cut costs after the High Court backed a decision by the NZ competition watchdog to block its merger with rival NZME.
NZME on Tuesday said a new merger agreement would now be necessary.
"Given changes in the businesses since ... the merger implementation agreement was entered into, new commercial terms will need to be agreed for the merger to proceed," NZME said in a statement.
NZME said the companies were continuing with their appeal.
"If the appeal is successful, the parties intend to negotiate a new agreement to realise the significant benefits of merging the operations of Stuff Limited and NZME," NZME said.
