KEY POINTS:
The news that Maori Television is to establish a digital channel that will broadcast solely in te reo is a pleasing vindication of the efforts of the young broadcaster.
For an organisation that suffered such terrible birth pains - the victim for a long time of opportunistic political point-scoring and then of a con-man chief executive - MTS seems to have skipped infancy and even childhood in a single bound and is now, at barely three years old, a robust young adult.
Its vibrant programme mix, which caters intelligently to all sectors of its target audience; its facility for tapping the talents of the entire community it serves, rather than recycling the faces of a small celebrity elite; the vigour with which it engages in matters of importance to its viewers; and its skill in seeking out quality non-mainstream programming from other territories; have all marked it out as a distinguished public broadcaster that has much to teach the main players in the market. Meanwhile, the technical polish of its broadcasts belies its budget of a mere $28 million.
The service's digital strategy, allowing for an extra Maori-language-only channel, is appropriately unveiled in Maori Language Week, and comes on the back of a survey showing that proficiency in Maori language speaking is significantly on the increase. For that, Maori Television deserves much of the credit. The new channel will boost progress further. Kia manawanui.
