Yesterday, the Press reported:
It's not only the loss of TVNZ7... free to air has lost SBS one, SBS two, Stratos Television, Australia Network Pacific and BBC World News. That means there's been a reduction of free to air broadcasting channels by a third since National came to power.
It's not as if these channels aren't economically viable either... It's that free to air is in direct competition with Sky TV. You can bet your bottom dollar that there's been secret deals to ensure National guts our public broadcasting sector... which will mean less local content, more advertising and more overseas reruns.
Not particularly bright if you ask me.
The loss of a free-to-air broadcasting channel would have been significant 30 years ago when there were only two channels, but in the proliferation now not just of broadcast and subscription channels, but of a vast multiplicity of other outlets for programming via the internet (smart television, for instance, is already on the horizon) it is scarcely noticeable and becoming less so by the year. If public-service programmes are worth making, NZ on Air is there to see they get made. Once that is done, programme makers will find no shortage of outlets on which they can be shown.
It's not only the loss of TVNZ7... free to air has lost SBS one, SBS two, Stratos Television, Australia Network Pacific and BBC World News. That means there's been a reduction of free to air broadcasting channels by a third since National came to power.
It's not as if these channels aren't economically viable either... It's that free to air is in direct competition with Sky TV. You can bet your bottom dollar that there's been secret deals to ensure National guts our public broadcasting sector... which will mean less local content, more advertising and more overseas reruns.
Not particularly bright if you ask me.
