6. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Broadcasting
Does he agree with the New Zealand Herald headline “Axe falls on last public service channel”?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (Minister of Broadcasting) Link to this
No. The subeditor might have done better justice to an otherwise excellent article by using the headline “Labour promised channel would be self-sustaining but had no plan for how that would happen”.
How can that denial have any credibility, given that the Television New Zealand chief executive at the Commerce Committee this morning conceded the New Zealand Herald headline was correct?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN Link to this
Just as I am not responsible for the headline, I am not responsible for what the chief executive says.
Can the Minister confirm that he declined the request that TVNZ had made, disclosed today at the select committee, to get at least some direct funding to keep TVNZ 7 running, and will he agree to release all of those proposals and all of the related correspondence?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN Link to this
I would be very happy to release the proposals, because they ask for more Government funding, which we just do not have.
Is not the reason that those reports have not been released publicly until now, that they embarrass the Government, which has been widely criticised for privately subsidising TVNZ’s competitors through preferential deals on tens of millions of dollars’ worth of frequency licence fees but it will not support Television New Zealand?
Hon Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN Link to this
That member might say that the Government is being criticised, but we have also had a lot of support for our broadcasting policy. This quote: “we need a strong, modern public media that crosses platforms, is agile and does not require a bottomless pit of funding to prop it up.” came from Clare Curran, the Opposition spokesperson on broadcasting. This quote: “For twenty years TVNZ has done what successive Governments told it to do; make money.” came from Brendon Burns. And I found this very good quote from very 2 days ago on Red Alert: “Let TVNZ—
Mr SPEAKERThe member will sit down. How many times do I have to tell senior members—this applies to senior members—that when I get to my feet, they sit down immediately. Those final parts of that answer were not required to answer the question.
Is the Minister irked that his colleague Minister Joyce is subsiding TVNZ’s private competitors while he is having to cut public service TV?
Is not the other reason the Government is subsiding Television New Zealand’s overseas-owned competitors but withdrawing support for TVNZ’s public service functions that it makes TVNZ drop public services, which is patently clear, become more commercial, and therefore easier to sell in the future?