Dialogue: TVNZ set a challenge to reflect our culture

The programmes screened by a reshaped Television New Zealand will encourage viewers to stay, not drive them away, says Broadcasting Minister MARIAN HOBBS.

The future shape and role of Television New Zealand has now been agreed on by the Government.

It will be re-established with its own legislation as a crown company charged with giving effect to its charter while maintaining its commercial performance.

Broadcast Communications (BCL), the transmission wing, and TVNZ Australia will be separate subsidiary companies operating as independently as possible of their parent as successful businesses.

In its new crown company form, the main purpose of TVNZ will be to meet its charter. This establishes the principles by which our public broadcaster will operate.

Under the State-Owned Enterprises Act, TVNZ now operates mainly to make a commercial return.

In re-establishing TVNZ with the sort of principles under which other public broadcasters around the world operate as a matter of course, we want to bring some balance to its operations. TVNZ, consulted throughout the development of the charter, has signed up to a set of social obligations.

The charter means that whatever happens in the globalising of television, New Zealanders will have their own flagship where they can find stories about themselves, their perspective on a world increasingly dominated by global giants of the media.

We do not want New Zealand consigned to a blip that can slip from the CNN global view.

In looking to the future, the Government is enabling TVNZ to reposition itself. Content will be the distinguishing feature that encourages viewers to stay with TVNZ.

In future we may all be able to receive hundreds of channels full of foreign programming. This means the value of TVNZ to the nation is not only what is on its balance sheet but what it delivers on our screens.

With about 70 per cent of the market, TVNZ is successful commercially. But we expect it to build on that success and to be the place where we go for our news and debate, documentaries and children's programmes.

The problem has been one of underperformance by the New Zealand model of broadcasting as a whole. The true reality and diversity of New Zealand life are not well enough represented in our broadcasting.

The contribution that broadcasting can make to democratic participation and public debate is underdeveloped.

The charter is not about Marian Hobbs, Helen Clark or anyone else dictating to TVNZ what programmes to run. We leave that up to the professional broadcasters to determine.

But TVNZ will have the charter against which to measure its performance as a public broadcaster.

This will involve a shift in culture, moving away from a strict commercial focus, to observing the charter and making programmes that viewers will watch.

But public broadcasting is more than simply ensuring local content is screened. It is about treating viewers as citizens rather than as consumers. In particular, it includes providing well-resourced and quality news and current affairs.

Without a primary commitment to the charter, news and current affairs are always liable to be run down or manipulated to attract follow-on audiences through the evening.

This is where branding of newsreaders has received more attention than providing resources for the research to back up a strong news team.

Much local content is financed through NZ On Air. For a programme to gain this money, it must first secure the agreement of a television broadcaster to screen it.

If the main purpose of the broadcaster is commercial, some programmes that might be supported by NZ On Air will never be shown because they will not attract advertisers.

In its new structure, TVNZ is retained in company form. This will oblige the directors to focus on financial solvency and, therefore, the commercial attractiveness of TVNZ to advertisers.

But it will also make it clear that one of the Government's reasons for owning TVNZ is to pursue public broadcasting aims.

TVNZ, while remaining commercial, will still show programmes that people want to watch. Indeed, we want the audience to grow, making the outlet an attractive proposition for advertisers.

Much charter-related content will be commercially attractive, such as drama and documentaries.

The charter is a challenge to our broadcasters to look anew at what they do. The Government recognises there will be a cost to implementing the charter and it is committed to supporting TVNZ to achieve this.

Any more public money for TVNZ will be considered in next year's Budget. In the meantime, TVNZ will be invited to re-examine the priorities of its already substantial programming budget in the light of the charter. This will be separate from financing available through NZ On Air.

Local programmes cost more to get to air than buying in from overseas. The Government accepts that without subsidising programmes specific to our history, peoples and culture, such programmes will not be produced to the extent desired.

Providing such support will also ensure that we strengthen our creative industry, one that is closely interrelated with both the film and advertising industries.

Under the new arrangement TVNZ will be able to display a greater commitment to the goals of the charter than if it were simply, as a state-owned enterprise, to provide charter-related services to the Government under section 7 of the SOE Act.

By definition, the charter needs to be the remit that belongs to, and is acknowledged by, the board of TVNZ. If TVNZ continued to operate under the SOE Act, the charter would, in effect, merely be the policy of the government of the day.

BCL is not a television content provider. Under the changes it will have the autonomy to expand and maximise commercial opportunities.

BCL and TVNZ Australia will be at arm's-length from their parent company. These arrangements will be reviewed after two years to see whether the subsidiaries should be changed to stand-alone state-owned enterprises.

The Government has set new directions for TVNZ. Officials will report to ministers in about two months on establishing TVNZ as a Crown company and effecting the operational and governance independence of BCL and TVNZ Australia.

We are embarking on a course that will create a public broadcaster that truly reflects who we are as a nation, supports and nurtures our creative industry, provides a forum for informed, rational debate on issues and provides a benchmark for the rest of the media.