Media: Minister steals march in TV war

Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman would like to see the Freeview channels TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 broadcast on Sky Television in the next couple of years.

Coleman appears to have stepped into the television war between state television and Murdoch-controlled Sky.

He said TVNZ was talking about "inspiring on every screen" but the half of the country that subscribed to Sky Television could not watch TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 unless they also had Freeview - either through a set top box or a built-in tuner in a TV set.

People bought into Freeview to prepare for the switch-off of analogue signals, not for TVNZ 6 and 7, so the Sky broadcasts would not harm Freeview.

Coleman - who is a shareholding minister at TVNZ - said he would be happy to see the two publicly-funded digital channels on Sky.

TVNZ 6 and 7 have been given $78 million of taxpayer grants over five years on the condition they have no advertising.

TVNZ 6 has three strains of children's programming, arts and old dramas while 7 has news bulletins and information.

In the past, TVNZ has resisted putting the two digital channels on Sky while Sky has refused to put Prime TV on to the free-to-air platform Freeview.

There was no indication whether Coleman would encourage Sky to put its free-to-air channel Prime on to Freeview.

Meantime, Coleman also confirmed that the Government is unlikely to regulate Sky TV, saying it was taking the advice of the Ministry of Economic Development over the view from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

He rejected a comparison between National's unwillingness to regulate Sky and its hands-off approach to Telecom in the 1990s, which allowed Telecom to assert anti-competitive practices.

"The difference between broadcasting and telecommunications is that there are options for broadcasters to enter the market [through satellite delivery]," he said.

National's policy will be no surprise - the business-friendly party has long understood Sky's position.

But Coleman is widely liked in the broadcasting industry, supports Freeview and appears to have reached an accommodation with free-to-air TV.

Sky is left unregulated, TVNZ is encouraged to focus on its digital future - using TV One and TV2 to fund new digital channels - and MediaWorks is kept sweet by being given access to charter money formerly set aside for TVNZ.

INCENTIVES

Unlike other countries, New Zealand has no regulations for its pay TV operator to provide local programmes.

Prime - bless it - makes up for lack of local fare and takes risks with quirky programming and shows like Ken Burns' documentary series The War, which belongs on TV One but does not appear to fit its commercial brief.

But is Prime ever going to challenge TVNZ or TV3 for ratings and ad revenue?

Heck, why did Sky buy Prime for $30 million back in 2005?

TVNZ and MediaWorks claim it is Sky's long-term strategy to take an anti-competitive advantage to shut them out of programming deals with Sky and Prime making joint bids for free-to-air and pay TV rights.

National knocked back calls for regulating Sky, so now there is no incentive to dress up Prime as a local channel, Well, that is the cynic's theory at least.

THE PRIME TIME

Sky says Prime viewers will not notice changes to the First at 5.30 bulletin despite layoffs announced on Monday.

Sky chief executive John Fellet says Prime will still have news and viewers will not notice a difference but it is not clear yet how the news show will be revamped. Fellet said the news operation accounted for 25 per cent of Prime costs.

"Last year was tough." said Fellet. "But, even if the advertising market had held steady, we would have been looking at change.

"Local news is still a point of difference and delivers value. But is 5.30pm the right time ... or do you take it later?"

THE WAY AHEAD

The most illuminating comment on the laying off of 90 staff from Television New Zealand was from Prime Minister John Key, who noted the cuts in part reflected the cyclical nature of issues facing broadcasting and the weak advertising market that was affecting all media.

Key said the layoffs also reflected structural changes in the industry.

"Our understanding from TVNZ management is that some of these job losses are effectively accelerating changes management intended to make over a longer period of time but the downturn has brought those changes forward."

Even before the downturn, traditional media such as newspapers and free-to-air TV were facing a revolutionary change to the way people use media.

TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis has made diversification one of his key aims and the state broadcaster has invested in new technology and initiatives such as TVNZ ondemand.

It is also refusing to confirm or deny an Australian report it has paid $15 million to buy one-third of the Australian rights to the personal video-recorder technology TiVo.

TVNZ is expected to deliver its interim results today.

Maybe it will be possible to see how this diversification is being funded. Are new ventures coming out of operating revenue - and does that add pressure for cuts to programming and news resources when things get tough?

TVNZ says it has a "relatively comfortable" level of debt. Did state TV consider paying for new media ventures with debt?

ROCK'N'ROLL BILL

RadioLive says that departing Drive Show host Bill Ralston is leaving after two years and has generously held on until the station found a replacement.

RadioLive is changing pace, appointing Maggie Barry to replace Ralston in the 4pm to 6pm timeslot.

The two broadcasters are very different. Ralston is spur of the moment - he's a bit rock and roll. Barry seems thoughtful - dare I say it, calming. From March 30, Barry will follow high jinks from Willie Jackson and John Tamihere and compete for listeners and advertisers against Larry Williams on Newstalk ZB.

IRISH EYES

Denis O'Brien, who is the second biggest shareholder in Independent News & Media and opposed moves to sell 39.1 per cent of APN News & Media, has increased his role in INM.

Under changes announced last week, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, the largest shareholder with 28.5 per cent of INM, announced he would stand down as chief executive and a director of INM.

His son, chief operating officer Gavin O'Reilly, will step in as CEO.

The board of 17 directors is to be reduced to 10 with three directors nominated by O'Brien, who owns 26 per cent of the company.

O'Brien had agitated for change and opposed a review at the end of last year for INM to sell its stake in APN - the transtasman media company whose New Zealand assets include half of the local newspaper industry, including the New Zealand Herald, and a 50 per cent stake in The Radio Network, including Newstalk ZB.

The Australian newspaper reported O'Brien would exert a strong influence on INM's direction. Gavin O'Reilly played down past differences.

TAKING STOCK

Fairfax Media has appointed Australian Allen Williams chief executive of its New Zealand operation, whose media assets include the Sunday Star-Times, Dominion Post and The Press.

Williams is currently Fairfax's chief executive/publisher for community and regional newspapers for the Illawarra and Hunter regions.

The Australian replaces Joan Withers who resigned last week and is due to leave in June.

Withers' number two, group head of publishing Rodger Shepherd - who was seen as heir apparent - was reported yesterday as saying he was disappointed and would take stock of the situation.

Meantime, Trade Me bosses in New Zealand will now be reporting to the head of digital operations, Jack Matthews instead of chief executive Brian McCarthy.