$233 million is spent annually on various forms of public broadcasting. Photo / Thinkstock
$233 million is spent annually on various forms of public broadcasting. Photo / Thinkstock
Public service broadcasting: Where taxpayer money goes
$233 million spent annually on various forms of public broadcasting: Television - $174 million • $82 million contestable NZ on Air funding (includes $15.1 million Platinum Fund) • $58 million for Maori television (includes $25 million Te Mangai Paho contestable) • $18 million for TVNZ 6and 7 • $5 million for Freeview • $2 million for Parliament TV • $9 million for other (Pacific transmission, archiving, digital, NZ On Screen, etc)
Radio - $59 million • $36 million for Radio New Zealand • $11 million for Maori radio • $5 million for New Zealand music • $3 million for National Pacific Radio Trust • $4 million for commercial and community radio
Estimates • $16.25 million - TVNZ continuing "a reasonable level of service" for TVNZ 7. (The government provided TVNZ $79 million over six years to fund TVNZ 6 and 7 offset by a $70 million dividend paid by TVNZ in 2005. Funding ends in June 2012) • $6.5 million for RNZ to set up and run "radio with pictures" public service television including $2 million from NZ on Air
Audiences Average monthly cumulative audience: • 2.1 million - watching a programme on TVNZ 6 or 7 • 1.6 million - watching a programme on Maori TV • 2.2 million - listening to a programme on National or Concert radio
Weekly cumulative RNZ audience by programme: • Morning Report - 368,000 • Nine to Noon - 250,000 • Afternoons with Jim Mora - 244,000 • Checkpoint - 228,000 • Saturday Morning with Kim Hill - 230,000 • Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw - 216,000
www.radionz.co.nz: • 13,740,136 page impressions in 2010, up from 11,264,695 in 2009 • 210,000 page impressions on the day of the 22 February Christchurch earthquake • 1500 requests per day for audio-on-demand downloads • 9,000-10,000 requests per day for podcast downloads
Sources: Cabinet papers released under the Official Information Act; NZ on Air; Ministry for Culture and Heritage; Te Mangai Paho; RNZ
