Government funding for the New Zealand television industry is lagging well behind other countries, an international survey shows.
The Television Regulations and Local Content in Six Nations report, commissioned by the New Zealand Television Broadcasters Council, examined the regulations, commercial issues and local content levels of six countries which had parallels to New Zealand.
New Zealand had the lowest level of Government funding for television of all the countries - Canada, Britain, Australia, Finland, Ireland and France.
New Zealand's public purse paid out $12 (gross) a head in funding compared to Britain, which rated the highest, with $144 a head. Canada, Australia, Ireland and France provided between $40 and $57 a head.
But the survey showed that, despite the low level of public funding for programmes in New Zealand, there was still a relatively high level of local content available to viewers of the three main free-to-air channels, council executive director Bruce Wallace said.
"It is to their credit that they manage to achieve a creditable performance with so little assistance," he said.
The framework in New Zealand, even with its very low level of public funding, had produced more local content than Ireland and France, which got far more funding.
He said Britain showed the clear relationship between Government funding and local content, achieving the highest levels on both counts.
- NZPA
TV funding lags: survey
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