RNZ boss backs calls for levy to support struggling media sector
RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson has added his voice to calls for a levy to support the media sector — without going into the specifics as to what that could look like.
Speaking at an online public meeting hosted by lobby group Better Public Media on Sunday, he said the industry had a “serious problem” and media plurality needed to be top of mind.
“I do think that as a country, New Zealand should look very seriously at creating a levy of some kind that's flexible, inflation-indexed and independent but obviously supported through regulation to allow us to create more revenue for our sector,” he said.
Before getting “bogged down” in the details of how that would work and who would receive income from the levy, “we should just be really united on the thought that a new revenue source is going to be required”, he said.
Parliament’s Economic Development, Science and Innovation select committee is currently considering a bill that would force search and social media giants such as Google and Meta to pay for news content that was shared through their platforms.
But Peter Thompson, chairperson of Better Public Media, told the committee in February that a levy on digital advertising would be a better option, saying that would provide a “lifeboat” for the sector.
Expanding on his submission on Sunday, he suggested the Government could impose a levy on digital advertising, services such as Netflix, and audio-visual equipment such as new TVs to support the wider news and screen-production industry.
A 2% levy on televisions and a $1-a-month levy on Netflix subscriptions would be unlikely to spark huge protests, he said.
Irene Gardiner, chief executive of the screen producers guild, Spada, which represents local film and television production companies, has previously floated the idea of a 5% levy on streaming television services to help fund local productions.
She said on Sunday that it was a “very tough time for local production”.
Shows that had been historically fully funded through advertising, such as television drama Shortland Street, were most vulnerable, she said.
After Prime Minister Christopher Luxon transferred the Media and Communications portfolio from Melissa Lee to Paul Goldsmith last week expectations are growing that the Government is planning a more activist stance with regard to the media and screen production industries.
“This government is definitely planning to try to do something,” Gardiner said.
Goldsmith said that it was clear the media industry was facing a number of challenges and he would work with industry on those issues, “building on the work Melissa Lee started".
A senior media industry source said that prior to dumping Lee from the portfolio, Luxon had sounded out NZ First leader Winston Peters and Act Party leader David Seymour on giving television broadcasters a break on digital terrestrial television transmission fees they currently pay stateowned enterprise Kordia.
The break, which would save television channel Three owner Warner Bros Discovery about $6.2 million a year, would be on the condition that they continued to broadcast local television news bulletins, the source said.
It is understood that Sky Television — which pays Kordia a smaller amount to have Sky Open broadcast free-to-air — would not benefit from the proposed break unless it contracted in or launched its own news service to replace its bulletins, which are currently supplied by Newshub.