Minister stands by RNZ+ plan
Plans to set Radio NZ up as a standalone TV channel are still on the agenda, says Broadcasting and Communications Minister Clare Curran.
But Curran hinted the TV component of the Government’s RNZ+ proposal was still some time away, saying it would be an ‘‘evolutionary’’ process and dependent on funding.
Curran has been under fire over events leading up to the resignation of Radio NZ executive Carol Hirschfeld as the Government looks to pump tens of millions of dollars into public broadcasting, mostly centred on the Government’s RNZ+ model.
Labour’s election platform promised $38 million to turn the state broadcaster into a ‘‘fully multi-platform non-commercial entity including a free-to-air television service’’.
That would pit it against TVNZ and other media players.
But Curran rejected suggestions it would be competition because RNZ+ would not get advertising revenue.
Hirschfeld was forced to resign after misleading her Radio NZ bosses over the nature of a coffee meeting with Curran last December. The Radio NZ executive told her bosses it was an accidental meeting but texts later showed it had been planned for weeks.
Her secrecy has fuelled suspicions Curran was seeking out allies to push her linear TV model against pushback from the Radio NZ board, which sees the future of public broadcasting being more focused on digital.
Hirschfeld was seen as an enthusiastic ally of moving Radio NZ to a TV platform.
Curran on Sunday likened her plan to the TVNZ7 model, which got funding from the previous Labour Government of about $15m a year. The channel was scrapped by the National Government.
Curran on Sunday reiterated that the discussion between her and Hirschfeld at their meeting was ‘‘high-level’’ and included a ‘‘discussion about the state of the media landscape, which is quite vulnerable, and in general terms the plans we had for the Government’s investment and the ability to provide more content for New Zealanders’’.
That included the Government’s plans for Radio NZ and NZ on Air.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has accepted Curran’s assurances she was not seeking to undermine the board, chair or chief executive by reaching over them to Hirschfeld.
But a select committee hearing next week will put the chief executive and chair Richard Griffin in the hot seat, and fresh information could put renewed pressure on Curran.
Griffin and Thompson inadvertently misled the select committee about the meeting being accidental and have been called back to correct that information.
Curran insists that her office twice alerted Radio NZ to its evidence being wrong.
Meanwhile, Curran hinted that TVNZ may also be in for a shakeup. There has been criticism of the Government overlooking TVNZ as the obvious vehicle for a fully blown public broadcasting channel.
But Curran has made it clear she does not see TVNZ as capable of that.
Curran said there was a legitimate discussion to be had about the future of TVNZ, which operates under a commercial model and pays dividends to the Government.