Te Arawa kaumatua Sir Toby Curtis has confirmed there have been talks between Maori TV and the Rotorua District Council and other iwi on a plan for studios in Rotorua.
The idea was to build a new centre for Maori TV in the city, which is the home base ofMaori Affairs Minister Te Ururoa Flavell and is the tribal base of Maori TV chief executive Paora Maxwell. Maori TV chairman Georgina te Heuheu is a leader of Tuwharetoa, which is based in the Taupo region.
Curtis said that relocation to Rotorua was ideal because it was geographically central for many of the big iwi such as Tainui in the Waikato, Tuwharetoa in Taupo and Ngati Awa in eastern Bay of Plenty.
But Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis and Auckland Tamaki Makaurau Labour MP Peeni Henare said that Maori TV should remain based in Auckland because the city was pan-tribal and should not be focused on any one iwi.
Maori broadcasting is in the midst of upheavals with Maori Party plans to give iwi more influence over broadcasting, rather than its current Crown partners.
The new Te Matawai policy is being resisted by Maori broadcasters. This week Maori TV former news boss Julian Wilcox announced he would be leaving the channel.
On top of that TVNZ announced this week it was scrapping its Maori unit and outsourcing most of its content with the loss of up to 30 jobs.
Maori Labour politicians believe plans to move Maori TV away from Auckland and south to Rotorua are serious.
