TVNZ bids waste of public money says angry TV3

By JULIET ROWAN

TV3 yesterday accused TVNZ of spending excessive amounts of taxpayer money bidding for "unnecessary" foreign news and current affairs programmes.

TV3 claims TVNZ has bid $1.3 million for the rights to ABC News and the 20/20 current affairs programme because it wishes to wrest control of them from TV3.

Canadian-owned TV3 paid US$400,000 ($660,000) for the rights in 2002 and says TVNZ is being anti-competitive by offering double.

"Their bid is close to being uneconomic and it looks like they are just trying to deny us this programming," said TV3 director of news and current affairs Mark Jennings.

Mr Jennings said TVNZ had no need of further foreign news programmes because it already had access to NBC, CNN and BBC. "They've got more product than you can poke a stick at."

TVNZ's head of news and current affairs, Bill Ralston, confirmed that TVNZ had expressed interest in the ABC programmes last year and that a bid had been made but would not say for what amount.

He said bids for foreign news programming were a normal part of business and speculated that TV3's parent company CanWest had denied Mr Jennings funding to buy ABC News and 20/20.

"He's obviously been told 'no' by his board and he's having a tantrum."

Mr Ralston accused TV3 of exerting political pressure to try to get TVNZ to withdraw its bid.

Mr Jennings admitted TV3 was reluctant to give up 20/20, which it first bought in 1991, and would be considering its options.

But he said it was unacceptable for TVNZ to demand money from the Government for charter programming while "lining the pockets of foreign news organisations".

Media commentator Paul Norris said TV3's criticism of TVNZ was an attempt to gain support for its own position. "They are certainly seeking to create something of a political storm."

Mr Norris, who heads the New Zealand Broadcasting School at Christchurch Polytechnic, said the incident was part of an ongoing battle between the two networks that had seen both publishing differing interpretations of television ratings and large advertisements promoting their achievements at the Qantas Media Awards.