Funding increase for Maori TV

12.10pm

The Government has increased funding to the Maori Television Service (MTS) by $7.075 million a year, Cabinet ministers announced today.

They also announced that MTS would transmit its signal via UHF and satellites.

The funding increase would give MTS an annual operating budget of $12.98 million, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said.

The original budget to get MTS established was for $4 million in 2001/02, rising to $6m for each of the following three years.

Its total funding, including programming, was to be $55m a year in 2004/05.

Dr Cullen said the increase was the amount sought by MTS and reflected the cost of getting the service to air, and sustaining it over time.

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said MTS would significantly enrich the fabric of New Zealand.

He said the UHF platform would allow MTS to own and control its transmission facilities and allow it to move to a digital programme "in the future".

"It will also mean that MTS is using the frequencies reserved for Maori language broadcasting since 1989."

MTS chairman Derek Fox had wanted to use VHF channel 4, controlled by private broadcaster CanWest, rather than the UHF platform.

UHF transmission would initially provide coverage for 70 per cent of Maori. The second stage would reach 86 per cent of Maori.

This was a greater level of coverage than any other New Zealand television channel achieved on launch, Mr Horomia said.

An estimated 800,000 homes already had UHF aerials to receive Prime, Sky and regional television services.

The channel was to have started broadcasting by the middle of last year.

It has been plagued by a series of delays, including over its transmission platform.

Planned coverage focused on areas with high population concentrations of Maori -- such as Dargaville, Gisborne, and Whakatane -- and the main cities.

The second phase of the proposal would target areas such as Taranaki and Hawke's Bay. Expansion would be a priority once MTS was on air.

It was not revealed how much the UHF option would cost, as the information was said to be commercially sensitive.

A UHF aerial was estimated to cost about US$200.

The CanWest option Mr Fox had favoured would have had to be leased for an annual fee, and would have been more expensive.

Taranaki, Gisborne and the Far North could not get that option, nor did it allow a transition to digital transmission.

Dr Cullen said the UHF option was the best as it allowed for cover to increase; the CanWest option on VHF frequencies was currently 70 per cent but could not increase above that.

The network, which would be based in Auckland, should be operational by July, Mr Horomia said.

There was no timeframe on when the 86 per cent cover would be achieved.

- NZPA

Herald feature: Maori TV