Pacific channel a priority for Labour

Labour says launching a Pacific channel would be made a priority if re-elected - but is this the right thing to do? The NZ Herald reported today that Helen Clark's Labour party would make the establishment of a Pacific TV channel a priority if they are re-elected.

TVNZ and TV3 have both revealed that they have plans to launch new channels aimed at Pacific audiences. But is there room for two Pacific channels?

TV3 have said that they will look to both the Government and the private sector for funding for the channel, but as TVNZ is the national broadcaster it seems more likely that their Pacific project would be the one to get the Government funding. The Government gave TVNZ $79 million of funding for TVNZ6 and TVNZ7.

The networks have said that there is a potential audience of 250,000 for such a channel. But would a large enough proportion of this figure actually have access to a Freeview box - as the channel would presumably be launched on the digital platform.

I think that TVNZ (and the Government) should put more focus into establishing TVNZ6, TVNZ7, and TVNZ Sport before launching anything new, as these channels all currently need more work.

Even Helen Clark herself has pointed out the low audience numbers of the Freeview channels - citing it as the reason she refused to appear on the TVNZ7 election show Leaders on 7.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Freeview also needs to get a dedicated Music channel - like Juice (but less advertising), as C4TV has became a MTV copy...!
Especially when there are more music listeners than Pacific Islanders with Freeview Receivers the Government really needs to think who they are sending their signal out too!?!

Media Blogger said...

I agree, a 24/7 music channel on Freeview would be a great thing!

However, at the same time I actually like the direction C4 is going in... It's different to MTV. They have some pretty good shows, such as 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, and The Office.