Hillary promo for TVNZ to stay in spite of protest letter

Television New Zealand has said it will keep running its news promotion featuring Sir Edmund Hillary, despite the knight signing a letter strongly berating the network's performance.

Sir Edmund was one of the 31 prominent people who signed the letter to Broadcasting Minister Steve Maharey asking the Government to reclaim the state network for "the people of New Zealand" by pulling back on ads in favour of more serious programming.

It said Government and advertisers had "hijacked and abused our public television for far too long ... we hope that you will have the determination to return it to serving its real owners, the people of New Zealand."

Sir Edmund's inclusion was seemingly at odds with his apparent endorsement of One News by agreeing to appear in its "Your News" promotion in return for a donation to charity.

However, TVNZ has decided not to drop him from the ad for signing the letter, which they will not comment on, claiming it was aimed at the Government rather than TVNZ itself.

An advertising man has hit back at the signatories for accusing advertisers of "hijacking" TVNZ, saying a reduction in ads would leave TV One "busking on street corners".

Michael Carney, of media buying agency MediaCom, said stripping TV One alone of ads would cut about $200 million a year - around half of TVNZ's revenue - leaving the taxpayer to pick up the slack.

Mr Carney said if the "31 Back to the Future retro-advocates" got their dream, TV One would languish "while the crassly commercial channels enjoyed a substantial windfall".

He said a reduction of advertising spaces would also drive up advertising prices on the other channels by at least one-third.

Mr Carney said it would take a return to a broadcasting fee of $50 a household to "subsidise the channel that time forgot".

"Would our 31 dignitaries prefer that money be diverted from health, education, roading or welfare? Or a tax increase perhaps?"

Mr Carney suggested the "commercially challenged 31" get their hit of nostalgia by relying on DVDs, watching UKTV or the History Channel, or investing in a MySky personal video recorder so they could fast forward through the ads.

The signatories do not appear to have backed down on their stance.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, said he had a long history with TV One, having come up with the original TV One moniker and logo in his advertising days.

"I am almost one of the fathers of TV One and I want it to deliver what they promised and it was a noble promise that we would see ourselves on screen and leave the American sitcoms to the other channels."

He said the local programming he wanted to watch was always hidden in bad timeslots.

"Drop the crap from 8 until 10, and drop the dross. Don't funnel feed us."

He said his ideal viewing week on prime time would include the news and Close Up followed by a good drama "and I don't mind if it's Shortland Street or something else, as long as it's about us" and, on two or three nights a week a "serious documentary", local or international.

New Zealand First supported the call for change and said TVNZ should model itself on the BBC rather than the American E! Channel.