RNZ pockets $4.5m
Broadcasting Minister Clare Curran has dished out $15 million to RNZ and NZ On Air, saying she ‘‘doesn’t buy’’ the argument that more funding for public service broadcasting will make business harder for struggling commercial media companies.
The Government set aside the money in May’s Budget to pay for initiatives ‘‘to support the contribution of public media to an informed democracy’’, but hadn’t decided until now exactly how it would be spent.
Now it has decided $4.5m will go directly to RNZ to extend its service, and $4m to NZ On Air to support local productions.
Another $6m will go to an Innovation Fund, which is a joint venture between the two organisations to commission content for ‘‘under-served audiences such as Maori, Pacific Peoples, children and regional New Zealand’’.
There is no direct funding for Television New Zealand or commercial media firms.
Curran has said she wants the extra funding for public media to increase to at least $38m a year, but she and RNZ continued to give mixed signals over whether that would one day result in RNZ launching something akin to a traditional television channel.
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson said such a channel ‘‘remained a long-term aspiration of the government’’ but he could only deal with things as they became more real.
‘‘We will be producing more multimedia content, some of which will be available on that big screen in the living room,’’ Thompson said. to RNZ, to extend its service to NZ On Air, to support local productions to an RNZ and NZ On Air joint fund, for ‘‘under-served audiences’’ to ‘‘Crownfunded media agencies’’, for research
‘‘But you are more likely to be watching it, in our view, on your mobile or your tablet.
‘‘At present, the concept of any kind of formal ‘linear’ station being at the centre of RNZ+ is not on our horizon,’’ he said.
Curran said the Government saw there being ‘‘an evolution’’ towards an RNZ TV channel but said it was ‘‘at stage one’’.
TVNZ said in a submission to a ministerial advisory group that rather than focus on the health of public media there needed to be a focus on ‘‘the health of the local media industry as a whole’’.
TVNZ said it was the only freeto-air television company that wasn’t losing money. The submission, written in March, was released under the Official Information Act this week.
Stuff Ltd, publisher of argued in its submission that ‘‘an expanded RNZ+ service’’ would draw audiences away from commercial operators.
Responding to that concern after announcing the media funding package at RNZ’s offices in Wellington, Curran said ‘‘I simply don’t buy the argument’’.
‘‘Look at all of those other countries that have thriving commercial media sectors. It is not an ‘either/or’,’’ she said.
In addition to the $14.5m allocated to RNZ and NZ On Air, ‘‘Crown-funded media agencies’’ will get $500,000 to research how they can use their assets more efficiently and to ‘‘work out the level of funding required for an effective public media well into the future’’, Curran announced.
‘‘Compared with other countries of a similar size, and with Australia, the $216m being spent on all broadcasting purposes in 2017-18 is clearly inadequate.
‘‘Denmark invests $935m in public broadcasters, and Australia nearly $1.5b. This increase for New Zealand public media is just the beginning.’’