KEY POINTS:
Maori Television is expected to announce today it is setting up a digital channel dedicated solely to te reo.
Sources said the service had been waiting to make the announcement after making a case for an exclusively Maori language second channel to Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia.
It is understood the second channel would be transmitted on Freeview and there would be no decrease in Maori language content on the existing channel.
The announcement coincides with Maori Language Week. Mr Horomia is expected to deliver the news at the service's Newmarket base this afternoon.
A spokesperson for the minister would not comment yesterday. Maori Television Service (MTS) said it was not in a position to pre-empt any announcement.
However, the news will not come as a surprise to the industry.
In May the Government set aside an extra $23.1 million in funding over four years, adding to the existing $28 million budget.
At that time chief executive Jim Mather said that extra funding would be used to implement its digital strategy.
Last year, he said the organisation would struggle to fund a 24-hour full-service channel on a $28 million budget. But the digital era meant eventually there would be an opportunity to produce material running around the clock on a number of channels.
Expansion could be good for local production houses because MTS is the leading broadcaster of local programming. New Zealand shows make up 80 per cent of the schedule.
Figures from the 2006 Census show 23.7 per cent or 131,613 Maori can speak te reo and a report released this week showed Maori who speak the language are becoming more proficient.
Former Maori Language Commission chief executive Haami Piripi said a dedicated te reo channel would allow MTS to better balance its budget, broadcasting and language commitments, where natural tensions existed.
MTS has already proven it can produce innovative programming by thinking outside the square. It was praised for the all-day Anzac coverage last year fronted by Judy Bailey and Wena Harawira.
Over the past four months for each month an average 680,000 individual viewers have tuned in. AGB Nielsen Media Research figures show 70 per cent of Maori aged over five had watched MTS, 73 per cent of Pacific Islanders, 43 per cent of Pakeha and 32 per cent of Asians.
