Supplied Content
Wellington, February 7, 2020
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi has announced that work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity.
He issued the following Statement yesterday (Friday, February 7, 2020):
The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public media assets are fit for the future and able to thrive amid the changing media landscape.
Challenges and risks
It is well known that New Zealand’s media sector, both public and private, is facing unprecedented challenges with competition from the likes of Google and Facebook, declining revenue shares, and changes in when and how audiences access their information and entertainment.
That presents risks for the future viability of New Zealand’s public broadcasting operators, RNZ and TVNZ, and the Government needs to address those risks.
Cabinet has now given approval to complete a business case to examine the viability of establishing a new public media entity as an independent multiple-platform, multi-media operation. Final decisions about the future of RNZ and TVNZ will be made once the business case is completed.
Flexibility and strength
It is about establishing the best way of providing New Zealanders with a range of trusted news, information, and entertainment that reflects New Zealand – its diversity, history, and aspirations. At the same time, we need to ensure any new public entity has the flexibility and the strength to meet future change and challenges.
NZ On Air will continue to have an important role to fund local content for both commercial and non-commercial media outlets.
PwC Consultancy will now conduct the business case I expect by the middle of this year.
