Maori TV rises from ashes of Aotearoa

By AUDREY YOUNG POLITICAL REPORTER

A new Maori television channel is expected to be broadcasting free-to-air across the country by next June.

Programming will cost up to $22 million a year, bringing to $176 million the amount the Government will spend on Maori television in the next four years.

The new channel, billed as a partnership between Maori and the Crown, would run a mixture of Maori and English programmes, the Government announced yesterday.

It would be allowed to run advertising. Any profits could be put back into programming, as it would not have to pay a dividend like TVNZ.

The new channel is the first Government attempt to set up a Maori television station since the collapse of Aotearoa Television Network amid allegations of overspending and mismanagement in 1997.

Within three years the channel is expected to be broadcasting a minimum of three hours of original programming. It may broadcast more than three hours in total, replaying some of the Maori programmes made by the state broadcaster, TVNZ, such as the Maori news programme Te Karere and Marae.

The television service will be established through its own legislation, but in the meantime an interim board will get the ball rolling.

The board, three appointed by the Crown and four by an electoral college of Maori organisations, will decide which existing broadcaster it will use to get off the ground.

TVNZ, Sky, the Australian-owned Prime channel and Four, which is owned by CanWest, are understood to have shown interest.

What the mix of programming will be - news, sport, drama or current affairs - will be up to the channel's management, which will be appointed by the board.

Officials said yesterday that about 70 per cent of New Zealand households should be able to receive the channel on UHF frequencies. The channel could also be simulcast on a digital satellite service.

Ownership of the service has been a sensitive issue with some of the Maori groups consulted.

The Maori television service was originally to be modelled as a crown-owned company - commercial but with strong social objectives. But it is understood Maori organisations objected to the term "crown-owned" because it was a partnership.

Prime Minister Helen Clark told the Herald last night that she wanted "good legal minds to work out an ownership form" before the legislation was drafted.

"I would think we'll end up with an ownership arrangement whereby, for example, if it were to be sold, the proceeds would come back to the Maori people."

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said funds for Maori programming would increase by $7.3 million in the next financial year, and after that by $14 million then $22 million for programmes on the Maori television service. Total money available for Maori television would build from $33.76 million this year to $55.07 million in the 2004-5 financial year.

Tai Tokerau leader Sir Graham Latimer, a key player, told a hui at Parliament last night that the best people must be appointed. "Don't let aroha get the best of you."

Mana Motuhake leader and Alliance MP Willie Jackson said: "We must never forget the nightmare of Aotearoa."