Peter Williams: Put TVNZ ON The Block

The Government should get out while they can

New Zealand governments have always loved owning or controlling broadcasting assets.

Even though the first radio stations of the 1920s were ostensibly privately owned, the licensing of frequencies, the payment of a license fee for both transmitters and receivers, and restrictions on content meant it was the Reform Party government which really called the shots.

In 1932 the privately owned but publicly funded Radio Broadcasting Company was taken over by the New Zealand Broadcasting Board. From this the first Labour government set up the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS) which became the NZBC which begat RNZ and TVNZ, and so it goes.

For a hundred years governments of all colours have shown themselves incapable of relinquishing ownership of radio and television stations and networks.

But a little over a century after Professor Robert Jack made the country’s first broadcast - in Dunedin in 1921 – the time has come for the government to dispose of what was once the crown jewel of its broadcasting portfolio, TVNZ.

It’s not worth much of course. Any entity in a sunset industry posting an eighty-million-dollar loss in its most recent financial year is not going to be besieged by deep-pocketed suitors.

Once again, company management is back in the headlines as it outlines ways to staunch the bleeding and effect a turnaround. As usual that means cutting some services, making some staff redundant and outsourcing some work.

Anybody watching TV 1 can’t help but notice how the advertising inventory these days is dominated by the company itself. Every commercial break bombards us with shows that we can watch on TVNZ+. The amount of actual paid advertising seems distressingly small.

I’ve tried TVNZ+ a few times. It’s an underwhelming experience not only because the quality of the shows on offer isn’t as appealing as Netflix or Amazon Prime but because the programmes themselves are broken up with commercials, just like on the free-to-air channels.

Therein lies the big problem for TVNZ. If its digital platform is going to be a serious contender in the streaming world there has to be an advertising-free and paid subscription model as well. Why this hasn’t already been launched is quite baffling.

Apart from that seven-days-a-week 5pm phenomenon “The Chase” (Bradley Walsh is by far the most endearing personality on New Zealand television) there is precious little to enthuse about on any TVNZ channel.

It’s no doubt a reflection of my age and the fact that I spent the best part of forty years working at the place, but I find the offerings in news and current affairs (NCA) underwhelming. I’ve been gone for six years and there’s been no refresh of the set or the look of 1 News at Six in that time. That’s before the reality, in these eyes anyway, of the content becoming so much more anti-government in the last year.

Surely the only reason the bulletin still goes for an hour is so that four commercial breaks can be included. But with TVNZ+ dominating those breaks you have to wonder if the company’s most watched show is even washing its face these days. How far away is a tighter, brighter, two commercial breaks, half-hour show with much reduced sports and weather?

Having seen what Breakfast has been capable of in the past, especially in the halcyon days of Paul Henry, its current iteration is just sad.

The only other daily offering from the news and current affairs stable Seven Sharp barely deserves to be covered in this discussion of NCA offerings as it’s essentially a strange combination of lifestyle and otherwise quirky stories that must have a constituency somewhere. It’s just not in my house.

At any rate, modern technology and the ubiquitous nature of what may loosely be described as new media means the old concept of news gathering and analysis is past its use-by date. The Newshub bosses saw the writing on the wall and headed for the exits.

Stuff is being brave but how long until the bank managers and financial controllers start asking questions about a product which commercially is performing even more underwhelmingly at 6pm than its well-produced predecessor?

TVNZ says it intends to replace its website with more news output on TVNZ+. What transpires there will be fascinating.

Is there an intention to have a “News Channel” with a rotating half hour bulletin running continuously, although updated during the day? Is there an opportunity for a series of cheap-to-produce “talking heads” shows on any number of topics like politics, business and sports?

Sky have been there and done that and found audiences are minuscule, even for their rugby shows.

But if they did go some way down that line, would TVNZ be brave enough to actually include some diversity of thought?

I write this a few hours before David Seymour and Helmut Modlik debate the Treaty Principles Bill on a podcast called “The Working Group” which will actually be broadcast live on Face TV. (I know, you’ve never heard of it but it’s Sky Channel 83 and on Freeview.)

In days gone by the only home for that content would have been TVNZ. That the state-owned broadcaster won’t touch that topic from both sides on the same show says all you need to know about how committed it is to being an integral part of the media in the modern era.

For many people, including in this household, the only rationale for watching television now is for live sport. Worldwide, it’s the only product now attracting eyeballs in significant numbers on a regular basis anymore. But sports rights are expensive and while TVNZ has made a belated run to get back in the game, it’s still the very poor cousin to Sky. Domestic cricket, which is the jewel in that crown for TVNZ, will surely to be too expensive for them when the rights need to be renewed for coverage after the 2025-26 season.

The government has no need to own a television company anymore. Despite heroic words from the Chief Executive, a financial miracle is not on the horizon any time soon. Why does the state need such an asset? Why should the taxpayer be asked to keep bailing out the multi-million dollar losses?

The population is showing less and less interest in its product. A sale to whoever thinks they could make a business profitable in an industry facing challenges all over the planet seems like an eminently sensible idea.

The government should get out before they have nothing left to sell.

Peter Williams was a writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines. Peter blogs regularly on Peter’s Substack - where this article was sourced.