KEY POINTS:
Labour is promising to work on getting a free-to-air Pacific Island television channel up and running if it wins the election - a prospect that major broadcasters have been investigating for some time.
Prime Minister Helen Clark backed the idea yesterday during campaigning in Auckland and said the channel would be "prioritised" if Labour was returned to power.
"We believe that in this day and age, with digital television, it can be done at a relatively cost-effective price," she said.
"So that's something we'll start working on post-election."
The idea of a Pacific channel has been on the radar screens of TVNZ and TVWorks (TV3) for some time and this month a Pacific Islands media conference was told of an approach to members of Parliament in February with a proposal for a station.
That approach by TVWorks, if approved, would lead to a station featuring programming bought from around the Pacific and local content that would include entertainment, educational programmes, current affairs and music.
Helen Clark acknowledged there had already been expressions of interest for a Pacific channel from different groups and said Broadcasting Minister Trevor Mallard wanted to get New Zealand On Air to run a process to determine "what would be the best way of doing it".
Labour traditionally gets strong backing from the Pacific Island community and the move to back a television channel is a clear attempt to shore up that support.
National's Pacific Island Affairs spokeswoman, Judith Collins, questioned Labour's commitment to a channel.
"If they were serious they would have actually done something when the country had the money to do it," Ms Collins said.
"They're just whistling in the wind and it's an election stunt."
However, she added that National did "feel positive" about a Pacific Island channel.
