Regional TV stations 'fighting to stay alive'

Jane Wrightson.

New Zealand On Air is changing its funding system for regional television, but it is too late for the three tiny stations that have closed so far this year.

Cue TV in Invercargill closed on April 10 after the local polytech dropped support and others are fighting to stay alive, said regional TV campaigner David Beatson.

Beatson said many financial problems in the sector came after digitisation when they had to pay government transmission agency Kordia commercial prices for their TV frequencies.

Daryl Anderson, of Central TV, closed local stations in Rotorua and Matamata at the end of April.

Anderson said NZ On Air paid little mind to funding of regional services and focused on supporting national broadcasters like TVNZ and MediaWorks.

NZ On Air pays out about $1.5 million for 11 stations. Anderson said the sector could be saved if that was doubled.

Last week NZ On Air unveiled a new policy for funding regional news and information services encouraging local media and local bodies to support regional stations. By changing the system the agency is effectively restructuring the sector but says it is doing so to support it.

Beatson is a former chairman of NZ On Air. He says without extra money the initiative is too little too late and existing operators are struggling to survive. The initiative will likely shut out some existing operators and reduce the number of stations, but fewer applicants would get more.

NZ On Air chief executive Jane Wrightson rejected any suggestion the organisation was overly focused on funding commercial shows on networks and faced a funding freeze.

Many regional stations did not have an adequate business case, she said. NZ On Air funded content and not the overall costs of running TV stations.

She rejected a suggestion the agency had paid too little mind to regional broadcasting, saying the agency was launching the new initiative to make regional TV sustainable.

Beatson said the NZ On Air approach was self-fulfilling because the lack of content funding over several years meant audiences had been suppressed.

A NZ On Air document said: "We expect potential providers will have clear support from important regional leaders such as local government significant community entities local business and iwi. We hope to see new multimedia, multi-platform alliances in TV, digital media, print and radio that could help audiences find funded content."

Wrightson declined to discuss whether NZ On Air was prepared to change its priorities to give more money to regional TV. Applications for content funding close on December 10.