There are only nine listed New Zealand movies and TV shows on Netflix as of today.
A Government document proposes an overhaul of media regulation and funding agencies as well as new requirements for global streamers to invest in NZ content. It’s a move that will be welcomed by the production industry but requires careful international consideration.
Global streamers such as Netflix, Apple, Disney and Amazon would be required to invest in New Zealand productions and content under a range of new media proposals unveiled by the Government today.
Smart television manufacturers would be also required to ensure New Zealand apps, such as TVNZ+ and Freeview, are given prominence on their content menus. Right now, global streamers such as Apple+, Netflix and Amazon have pride of place in many of the smart TV line-ups.
The Government is planning a shake-up of the media and screen production industries in several distinct areas, including the merger of funding agencies NZ on Air and the New Zealand Film Commission.
And it is proposing to overhaul the broadcasting standards regime, including the Broadcasting Standards Authority, with “platform-neutral and system-level regulation of professional media”, and to boost audio captioning services generally.
Under the media modernisation proposals, local and global streaming platforms would have local content investment “obligations”, according to the “media reform” discussion document released by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
It specifies a proposed requirement on the platforms “to invest a proportion of annual revenue in the creation or acquisition of local content”.
The paper also proposes discoverability requirements for local content on streamers’ platforms: “to put in place measures to promote and clearly display local content and enable users to find new local content”.
The document says that a manual scan in September 2024 showed Amazon Prime had just over 10 New Zealand titles in its catalogue; Netflix held fewer than 10; while Disney and Apple+ had none.
As of this morning, there are just nine New Zealand movies and TV shows listed on Netflix, amongst the global streamer’s thousands of titles. There are just under 200 Australian titles and 120 Canadian titles.
The proposals will require a delicate period of consultation - riding a fine line between a local production industry that is on its knees and the new Donald Trump-led American administration that could easily baulk at any imposition on US-owned streamers.
Trump has made clear he won’t stand for strong-arming of American-owned companies by foreign governments. For example, as The Australian Financial Review reported last month, almost 90,000 expat Australians in the US could have their tax rates doubled in retaliation for any clampdown on digital tech giants such as Google and Facebook in Australia.
The document released today notes: “New Zealand has obligations under international trade law to treat international content providers and creators no less favourably than domestic content providers and creators, in respect of the production, distribution, marketing, sale and delivery of content.
“In recognition of these trade commitments, the proposals in this document seek to ensure all media are on an equal footing. As these proposals are developed, further analysis will be completed to ensure consistency with these international obligations.”
The paper reveals that officials had also considered a levy on streamers and minimum content requirements - a quota. A quota “would increase the access to local content in the short term but may not have an ongoing impact once requirements were reached,” the paper notes.
“It is also likely to be fulfilled through acquisitions in low quality ‘filler’ content rather than investment in new local productions.”
The paper notes that as New Zealand audiences have moved from linear TV broadcasters to global streaming platforms, advertising revenue has been eroded.
“This in turn means that broadcasters are commissioning less local content. Sector reports from early 2024 suggested that broadcasters may reduce investment into local content by $60-80 million in the coming year.”
It said several factors were contributing to decreased engagement with local content:
“Without change, New Zealanders will increasingly struggle to discover local content, missing out on the important cultural and societal benefits that seeing and hearing our stories and voices brings.
“This will also negatively impact the capability and workforce of the local media and production sector, with flow-on impacts on the economy.”
Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith says: “It is clear the media and content production sector is facing complex challenges.
“We now live in a time where audiences have unprecedented access to global media, making competition for viewers and advertising intense. However, much of the legislation underpinning our media landscape is outdated and stifling innovation.
“As the Government, we look to ensure regulatory settings treat all players equally, and don’t create unnecessary barriers. We have an interest in local production and a strong media, while realising it’s up to individual businesses to determine how best to respond to a changing market. The Government cannot solve these issues entirely.”
The idea of streamers being required to support the local industry will be welcomed by the screen sector.
“For some time Spada has been lobbying for Government regulation of the international streamers so they contribute to the local industry in some way,” Spada president Irene Gardiner wrote in December.
“This should have happened years ago, to avert the crisis we now face, but it’s never too late. The streamers don’t pay tax here, they use our broadband infrastructure, they harvest our data - and they don’t currently contribute anything.
“This has been remedied in many other countries with levies, quotas, or hybrids of the two. We’re a little late to the party.”
Spada had previously suggested that the most straightforward option might be a simple percentage levy on the streamers’ NZ revenue, she said.
That could then be invested back into the industry via existing funding agencies.
“For example, a 5% levy would generate approximately $25 million. The good news is the government is finally taking this seriously and looking into what might be done. It is the big tech-ers who broke our business model - they should be a part of the solution in trying to fix it. We just want a level playing field.”
Today’s paper notes: “Global streaming platforms (like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV and Disney+) are creating international productions in New Zealand, often using their own production companies. As of October 2024, Netflix had filmed 16 international productions in New Zealand and carried out post-production here on 12. Disney had filmed one international production in New Zealand and carried out post-production here on eight.”
Greenstone TV CEO Rachel Antony told The Spinoff in November that in reality, “the streamers are doing exactly what they have to do, which is nothing”.
“It just really hurts because, as New Zealand producers, we are already out in the world and hustling hard for international investment in an incredibly challenging market,” she said.
“It just feels like these big international streamers care so little that they can’t even be bothered considering the optics of not treating us like a service economy.”
The document confirms plans to merge NZ on Air and the New Zealand Film Commission; this will be welcomed in many quarters, in light of the digital convergence of TV and big-screen productions.
The discussion paper describes the current funding regime as “splintered and overlapping”.
“This distinction is increasingly blurred by shifts in how content is produced and consumed, and there are now overlaps in the entities’ functions and the sectors they support,” it says.
“Change could support more coherent and impactful delivery of public funding for content and industry development, particularly in the screen sector. Change could also create back-office efficiency, and support streamlined administration processes for funding applicants.”
The document proposes overhauling media regulation, with a new body to replace the Broadcasting Standards Authority and one that was platform neutral.
“The role of the regulator (currently performed by the BSA) would be revised, with more of a focus on ensuring positive system level outcomes and less of a role in resolving audience complaints about media content,” says the document.
The regulator’s functions would include guiding and developing media standards in collaboration with the industry.
It would act as a “backstop” for complaints resolution - essentially any issues that cannot be resolved by the media company in the first instance or a self-regulatory body (such as the Media Council).
“Standards would apply to content across all professional media in New Zealand (no matter what the delivery platform).
“Protecting and promoting media independence and the freedom of expression would remain a core focus – these standards are not expected to differ substantially from the existing broadcast standards, except to the extent required by the different forms of media content covered.”
There is likely to be a sharp debate as to who is covered by the new regulator - right now the definition as to those covered is “professional media”.
“Our intention is to capture organisations that commission, produce, or directly pay for media content and distribute it as their primary business,” says the paper.
That included New Zealand broadcasters and streaming platforms, global streaming platforms, online text-based media, newspapers, and magazines.
However, the paper says it would not include online platforms “that primarily host user-generated content or provide access to others’ content, such as social media (like Facebook and TikTok) and search engines (like Google).”
Submissions on all the proposals close at 11.59pm on Sunday, March 23.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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