KEY POINTS:
Television New Zealand will have to fight to hold on to taxpayer grants for Maori programming now that Maori Television is starting a second channel.
The Government announced yesterday what this column revealed on June 5 - that Maori TV is to start a second channel, with Government
backing.
The existing channel will have a bigger emphasis on general audiences but with a Maori theme. Maori language commitments will be focused on the second channel. TV industry insiders say the existing channel has developed "organically".
The existing Maori TV, which includes popular shows such as Ask Your Auntie, has the makings of an alternative semi-commercial public channel with a Maori feel - our version of Australia's SBS.
Aiming the first Maori TV channel at a more general audience will rankle with some Maori who worry the Maori theme has been diluted.
But it will make more sense if Maori TV is to grow and attract advertising dollars.
How will Maori TV pay for the second channel?
Some of it will come from the $23 million Maori TV has already been given to develop its digital strategy.
But it will almost certainly be looking for extra money.
Earlier this year TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis was pilloried for his comments to Parliament's Maori select committee about TVNZ's Maori coverage.
TVNZ's taxpayer-funded shows such as Marae and Waka Huia are already repeated on Maori TV.
Maori Party MPs asked how TVNZ would feel if all the money allocated by the Government for Maori television through funding body Te Mangai Paho went directly to Maori TV. Ellis dodged the question.
But with the Maori Party likely to play a key role in the make-up of the next Government, Labour will surely be happy to help with a top-up if one is needed.
National's position is not yet clear and but it says Maori TV needs to show it is attracting sizeable audiences.
The chances are it will be looking for Maori Party support next year as well.
RESEARCH JOBS GO
The market research business is in a flurry of activity after local agency done-good Conversa merged with the global group TNS and promptly dropped 30 people - one third of its combined staff.
Many of the 90 combined staff have been invited to reapply for the 60 jobs at the merged operation and that has piqued the interest of Conversa TNS competitors.
Managing director Michael Lucas said there were "inefficiencies" at the old operation.
Will the new company choose the right people and maintain its client base with a vastly reduced staff?
Or will it - as other market research companies hope - walk away from the traditional market tracking work that has been a mainstay of TNS?
The takeover announced on July 6 is intriguing. Financially, Lucas and the other New Zealand Conversa partners have been bought out.
But in terms of a business model this may yet become a reverse takeover by Conversa against the global giant.
The New Zealand TNS operation is being remodelled into the Conversa model, and then Australia is to follow suit. Lucas says that after that other TNS operations may follow.
BOYS WILL BE BOYS
The advertising industry appears to be high on testosterone after winning a scrap with the Auckland City Council and securing the industry's right to have billboards in the central city. And you can't help but think that boyish enthusiasm is clouding their judgment. Take, for example, the billboard ad Prime Television and Draft FCB installed at six inner city sites that featured an image of an erect phallus to promote the Prime TV documentary The World's Largest Penis. Ad agencies love to push the boundaries but this billboard in Albert St - which ran during school holidays - did not belong.
It was still there a month after the show screened, suggesting it was a part of the Prime brand. Draft FCB creative director Justin Mowday insisted that the image towering over Albert St was just "a phallic shape" and that such things were part of life and should be talked about openly.
In an unrelated event last week ad agency Colenso BBDO recently let off an explosion at a billboard in the CBD. In its publicity material the name of the agency was more obvious than that of the advertiser. The message may have been unintentional but it was clear. This is a billboard town. Good on the ad industry for beating the draconian ban and a political stitch-up. But a lot of Aucklanders would have been happy to see the billboards go.
CATEGORY CLASH
The Public Relations Institute says that the issues surrounding the Madeleine Setchell sacking and Labour becoming involved in the appointment of the top PR person for the Environment Ministry are not unique to the public sector.
Prinz executive director Paul Dryden said that from time to time a commercial client has been left uncomfortable about the relationships of their consultants with people from competing brands and had asked for a change in personnel. But he said such occurrences were rare.
The communications business is always battling issues about conflicts of interest with strict demarcation lines so that an advertising agency does not hold the marketing secrets for two competing brands.
But things get complicated when you separate organisations down to the relationships between individuals.
One brand - Labour - believes public servant Setchell had access to its marketing secrets while being the partner of Kevin Taylor, a brand manager for National.
BRAND LABOUR
The Government has painted itself into a corner explaining its stance over the Setchell affair.
The Wellington media and PR scene is tiny, there is a lot of inbreeding and if nothing else people from the public service like to sup fine wine and attend dinner parties. What else is there to do in Wellington? There are a lot of Labour supporters at government departments and in parliamentary jobs. And there are are a lot of cronies appointed to Government roles. We are told there are Chinese walls to prevent conflicts of interest. But with the sacking of a PR person, the Government appears to be saying we can no longer rely on those Chinese walls. Is the Government worried about public servants with an affiliation with Labour or who have a relationship with someone who does? Will they be thrown out? Don't hold your breath.
ROGER NOT QUITE OUT
Roger MacDonnell is expected to continue with a hands-on role even after he has stepped down as managing director of Colenso BBDO. He has a big reputation and his replacement - Brent Smart - is relatively new to the New Zealand biz. MacDonnell is expected to keep up appearances for the big accounts at least. This month MacDonnell told the Business Herald about plans to hand over the reins. He would focus on his role as chairman of the Clemenger Group companies which includes Colenso BBDO, direct marketing agency Aim Proximity and public relations agency Porter Novelli.
