Editorial: Maori TV better be worth it

A great deal is riding on the Government's investment in a Maori television channel. Short of giving all New Zealanders a solid grounding in te reo Maori at primary school, a dedicated television channel is probably the best way to preserve this country's only unique language. But any investment, no matter how high-minded, needs to keep its feet on firm economic ground.

A television channel broadcasting predominantly in Maori might never be profitable but other ways must be found to ensure that money is not wasted. The $7 million increase in funds announced this week, more than doubling the annual operating budget of a channel that was aiming to be on air by the middle of last year, comes with a comment from the Minister of Finance that we are getting "a more substantial project than what was scoped some few years ago".

It is not clear what more we are getting for the additional expense. The Maori Television Service now plans eight hours' transmission daily rather than the one hour it says was initially planned. But it is hard to recall that only one hour a day was proposed, and hard to believe the Government would have agreed to pay $6 million for that. The amount, after all, is purely to run the channel; programmes will be separately funded by the taxpayer to the tune of $155 million by 2005.

To live within that budget, MTS capped its programme purchasing at $40,000 an hour, a rate that programme makers said was too low. It is encouraging, therefore, that 600 hours of programming has since been commissioned.

It is less encouraging that the channel is to broadcast on the UHF band. Unless its viewers happen to be Sky subscribers they will need to lay out about $200 for a UHF aerial. The state transmitting company, BCL, which will relay the service, has offered to help with a "tune in" campaign and aerial installations, but the outlay for viewers is going to be a barrier.

Nevertheless the Government had little option. The only frequencies available on the VHF band would have had to be leased from the owners of TV3, Canwest, which was asking in return for two Auckland FM radio frequencies. The deal would have compromised the principle that commercial radio frequencies are allocated in open, competitive auctions. There are good economic reasons to keep that principle intact.

Competition is the most assured way to allocate valuable resources, such as radio and television frequencies, so that maximum value is gained at minimum cost. Competition can be arranged for non-commercial services, too, if the Government offers subsidies by tender. But having decided instead to subsidise Maori language television through a single channel, the state must find other ways to check the value and costs of the service.

It must be alert to risks of extravagance and insufficient care that can creep into an organisation that has no competitive discipline on its decisions. Those risks have already appeared in MTS, not only in the choice of a chief executive whose credentials turned out to be phony. There were also disturbing indications last year that the channel was setting up its Auckland studios in the Viaduct Harbour where a lease would exceed $500,000 a year.

Evidently that idea has been discarded. This week the company was reported to be still looking for studio and office space in Auckland and Wellington. No more has been heard either of objections to constituting the company as an entity accountable to the Crown.

The Government has accepted a treaty obligation to provide a Maori language channel. It has an equal obligation to see that public funds provided for the purpose are carefully spent. The company will be well watched. Let us hope the channel is too.

Herald feature: Maori TV