2. MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) Link to this
to the Minister of Broadcasting
What progress has been made with making digital television available in New Zealand?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister of Broadcasting) Link to this
I am pleased to inform the House that free-to-air digital television broadcasting commenced yesterday. The FreeView group of broadcasters launched its satellite service, which means that all New Zealanders now have access to free-to-air digital television, which provides superior quality reception, and better pictures and sound. I hope that over time we will see more channels, more content, and more services, like interactivity, made available throughout the country.
Madam Speaker, I have been having some difficulty hearing—[ Interruption]—because of the noise in the Chamber, not my own disability.
Madam SPEAKERThe level of conversation amongst members on all sides of the House is starting to rise again. If members have urgent business they want to transact with each other, would they please take it out of the Chamber.
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
Following a proposal from the group of free-to-air broadcasters, I took advice from a range of independent analysts, officials of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit, the Ministry of Economic Development, Treasury, and free-to-air broadcasters themselves. That advice told me that it was essential that broadcasters move to digital because analogue broadcasting equipment was becoming redundant and because New Zealanders needed to share the advantages of digital television, like countries all around the world. The only bad piece of advice I have had concerns my being disappointed by the constant complaints by the National Party spokesperson on broadcasting, who has led the industry to believe that he opposes digital television, which is a very real shame. This ought to be something that is shared across the House.
Dr Jonathan Coleman Link to this
Will the Minister, then, be taking the advice he was given, that he needs to set a date for switching off the analogue signal; and does the Minister realise that unless he takes that advice, takes the responsibility, and names a date, FreeView does not have the chance of attracting an audience and will therefore represent a waste of $104 million of taxpayers’ money?
Hon STEVE MAHAREY Link to this
As the member knows, the advice was the exact opposite. Countries around the world have found that setting a switch-off date is one of the most difficult things to do. Therefore the advice suggested that we set a time frame, which we have done, of between 6 and 10 years, which is exactly what all the broadcasters agree with, what the FreeView platform agrees with, and what we will do.