Budget 2018: Media allocation falls short of $38M promise, Curran says more to come

The Government has allocated $15 million to public broadcasting in the 2018 budget - a figure well below Labour's pre-election promise of $38m.

Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister Clare Curran has, however, said there will be more to come in future budgets.

"The ministerial advisory group may recommend increased Government investment in Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and NZ On Air to support public media and programming," Curran said in a statement.

"Over time we want RNZ to have the ability to turn itself into a multi-platform provider dedicated to quality New Zealand programming and journalism, and we want NZ On Air to be able to better support content that is valued by Kiwis."

Details on what the fund will be used for are still unclear at this stage, but RNZ chief executive Paul Thompon welcomed the injection of the funding as well as the indication of further investment in public broadcasting.

While on the election campaign trail, Labour's manifesto included plans to launch a broadcasting platform called RNZ+, which would include a free-to-air non-commercial television service.

Labour signalled that $38m would be allocated in its first year toward NZ On Air and RNZ to bring the initiative to life.

Thompson said that although today's announcement came in below that figure, it didn't necessarily shut the door on RNZ+.

"That remains a long-term goal," Thompson said.

Asked what RNZ was planning to do with the additional funding, Thompson said that once RNZ's share of the allocation has been announced, he would be in a better position to discuss that.

In recent months, RNZ has come under major public scrutiny, following revelations head of news Carol Hirschfeld misled bosses in regard to a meeting with Curran. This eventually led to the resignation of Hirschfeld from the broadcaster.