A digital TVNZ: not if but when

By Karyn Scherer

Between the lines


Let there be no doubt. TVNZ is going digital.

Despite the politicians' doubts over the plans that have been presented to them so far, no one is seriously suggesting that TVNZ will be forced to continue sending out its signals in the television equivalent of AM, while the rest of the world is enjoying FM reception.

The digital revolution has begun. Americans have had digital television since 1994. It has been available in Britain for more than a year and it will be introduced to all of Australia's main cities by the end of this year.

All three countries plan to pull the plug on existing analogue signals before the end of the decade.

In New Zealand, Sky TV has also been offering a digital satellite service for more than a year.

As anyone who gets the Sky service will attest, the picture is slightly better, but the main advantage is that it offers broadcasters the ability to transmit a lot more channels, as well as additional services such as video-on-demand or internet-type access.

It is this possibility that has excited TVNZ. But it has also been its undoing.

There are few, if any, free-to-air broadcasters anywhere else in the world that are planning to introduce pay services.

They are content to offer the extra channels digital allows them, and capitalise on other technological benefits, such as regionalised advertising.

What worries the present Government - and despite what former SOE Minister Tony Ryall now says, the previous Government worried about it as well - is whether the gamble of introducing additional services is worth taking, given that it is taxpayers' money that is involved.

Treasury is right to argue that it is a big gamble indeed. Viewers might be expecting additional services, but just how many will be prepared to pay for them is a big question.

But all is not lost for TVNZ. Although Helen Clark initially suggested it could take a year for the issue to be sorted out, Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs now believes it could be resolved within six months.

She is also not ruling out the possibility that TVNZ will still be allowed to form some kind of joint venture with British cable giant NTL.

It remains to be seen whether NTL will still be interested in New Zealand now that the privatisation of TVNZ's transmission arm, BCL, appears unlikely.

But a delay at this point is not necessarily a bad thing. The technology is developing rapidly, and it is still unclear exactly what the role of the television set and the phone will be once communications and broadcasting services truly converge.

While Sky TV will be able to strengthen its dominance in the meantime, it is too early for its shareholders to start breaking out the bubbly just yet.