Prime TV: on track despite loss

By Karyn Scherer

Regional television operator Prime TV has made a loss of $A4.3 million in its first 10 months of operation in New Zealand.

The channel's Australian owner confirmed the figure yesterday, as it revealed a profit slump for the first time in many years.

However, it claimed to be pleased with its progress in New Zealand, and confirmed the channel was on track to break even in about three years.

The New Zealand loss helped contribute to a bottom-line profit of just $A200,000 for the Australian company, compared to $A16.7 million last year.

However, it has largely blamed its Argentinian operations, which it is trying to sell.

About 3 per cent of viewers watch Prime in New Zealand, and the company claims to be confident of snaring a small share of the national advertising market over the next year.

It announced several redundancies and a management shake-up earlier this year.