What’s at stake in broadcast merger

Discovery’s Glen Kyne says a not-for-profit model offers the best hope for the media landscape, if the Government approves a tie-up of the two public broadcasters.

Generational change to our media sector is imminent. It appears the will-they-won’t-they courtship between TVNZ and RNZ has finally reached a resolution, two years after the first Cabinet paper on a proposed merger to create a stronger public media entity was tabled.

As TVNZ’s only major direct competitor in New Zealand, Discovery has obviously taken a keen interest in where this relationship is going, what it means for NZ audiences, the advertising industry, production community, and the broader ecosystem we operate in.

We’re hoping the decision serves the public and the industry by creating a new public entity that runs as a not-for-profit.

As it stands, we have a state-owned broadcaster which is commercially focused and driven to return a profit and dividend to Treasury. That leads to decisions that are inconsistent with public media goals and not necessarily for the public good.

Some of the things we are watching for in Cabinet’s decision is the change in mandate, profit or not, the governance model, the impact of the charter on what audiences will end up watching on screen, and the flow on impact this has on the entire media industry.

To be clear, we’re not suggesting the new TVNZ/RNZ has no commercial imperative. On the contrary, we need a vibrant commercial sector and therefore a commercially strong TVNZ with highreach audiences and value to the advertising community – that’s good for everyone, not least because it helps stem the tide of ad dollars heading towards Google, YouTube and Facebook/Meta.

But it must be an even playing field, funding of the new public media entity should not unfairly disadvantage others, and that profit should be funnelled back into building the industry to be stronger, more diverse and sustainable.

A not-for-profit model has the potential to create a broadcaster which collaborates with the industry, works with and not against, finds efficiencies and uses its resources to champion the industry and promote growth.

Take the 1pm press conferences we all became glued to over Covid. This new public entity could set up and share the news feed across multiple news media: platforms, television, radio, digital etc, therefore allowing other newsrooms to invest more resources into holding a government to account and providing editorial analysis and insight that makes a difference to New Zealanders.

The collaboration under a source and share model could help the challenges with funding large-scale newsrooms and make them more sustainable.

A public entity, pending the funding model, could help expand the allocation of funding (NZ On Air, Te Mangai Paho, NZ Film Commission) to more creatives and production houses. These contestable funds could be strengthened by the returns of the stronger public media entity being allocated into these funds.

New Zealand’s creative community could further thrive and grow with more access to these initiatives, assuming, of course, the public media entity is not taking the lion’s share of this funding.

A public entity could help us celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of NZ media, championing our industry to encourage new entrants into journalism, production, acting, comedians, technical crafts, writers, communications professionals . . . the list goes on.

It would also make sense for a new public entity to harness and advance digital opportunities to reach new, younger audiences. A core requirement at the same time will need to be a model that supports free-to-air linear television that is free to view.

Streaming might dominate the discourse, but free-to-air and free to view remains an important part of the broadcasting ecosystem, both commercially and for public good. This is not going to change soon for many New Zealanders.

Of course, a not-for-profit model benefits Discovery, but the ripples would go far wider. If Cabinet gets this right, we could have a public entity focused on supporting the incredible pool of creative, production and journalistic talent in New Zealand, ensuring we hear from and see the widest possible representation of this country, and assisting the industry to navigate the increasingly fragmented landscape of information.

There are many questions to be answered, such as what governance and operating model will the Government reveal to us this week, will it strengthen or weaken competition, how will it be lead and decisions be made, how will the charter function and govern its activities, what culture will take hold, how will the mixed funding model work, for profit or not, and what may a change in government do to unwind this generational change?.

Notwithstanding the answers to these questions, a reinvigorated public broadcaster, clear in its goals, isn’t just Discovery’s ideal scenario, it’s the right one for all of Aotearoa.