A blueprint for the future of public media will be revealed this week but any real change is still some way off, writes political editor Jo Moir.
Comment: Labour has been progressing the idea of a new public entity that could see TVNZ and RNZ merge since it came into office in coalition with New Zealand First in 2017.
While nothing concrete evolved, in 2019 Broadcasting and Media Minister Kris Faafoi made the first soundings that a merger was on the table.
That progressed much further when a working group was set up, chaired by former New Zealand First Minister Tracey Martin, to draw up a business case last year for what any new public media entity might look like.
Cabinet has been contemplating the recommendations from that report and a decision has finally been reached after Covid-19 initially delayed it.
While some New Zealanders, and MPs, might crave the idea of TVNZ joining RNZ as a full-blown state broadcaster, the reality is it won’t.
A hybrid TVNZ model alongside the more traditional RNZ will continue, it's understood, but under an overarching single governance arrangement.
While other media outlets would relish the opportunity to have greater access to advertising if TVNZ was no longer in the commercial game, a hybrid model where there is still a commercial arm to TVNZ is where things will land, Newsroom understands.
The Cabinet will be aware that won’t please everyone (including other media) which is why other decisions will need to be made about ensuring everyone else has easy and fair access to NZ on Air funding to produce and present New Zealand content.
What also needs to be factored in is the changing media landscape and the various platforms through which people are now consuming their news and entertainment.
Speaking to Newsroom in May, Martin said the governance group had received fresh research that underscores the digital disruption to radio and broadcast television.
“Just as many New Zealanders have a laptop or computer as have a TV now – 77 v 78 percent. Over 80 percent have a smartphone. Only 61 percent have a radio in their homes. Access to Netflix is now as widespread as to a radio. And that creates problems for what we’ve called broadcasting – traditional radio and TV,” Martin said.
“This is all about audience at the end of the day. One of the critical factors must, in any option, be that it serves those who are currently under-served – something it needs to land before resolving the economic case costings."
To get started on what the new entity will deliver exactly, some sort of establishment board will be announced by Faafoi this week to work alongside TVNZ and RNZ.
It won’t be a quick solution and the work will continue for years to come.
For the most part it will be TVNZ that will be doing the adapting as RNZ has long exhibited the public broadcasting ethos expected under the framework.
Newsroom understands the model for how it will work is very much based on that of RTE in Ireland, where core market public broadcasting is protected, but the entity is also driven by modern platforms and keeping up with content in places where people are most likely to watch and listen.
That means TVNZ can continue to run a business model and put programming on to suit ratings at prime time.
But in doing that it will be required to put a greater emphasis on public good on other platforms and ensure all New Zealanders see themselves through programming.
Diversity and accessibility will be key, but just how TVNZ will get to that point under the new model are the aspects the new working group will need to work through with the company.
TVNZ and RNZ both have their own strong brands and high public trust so keeping them will be important for now - the decisions ahead are more focused on providing New Zealanders modern content at a standard expected from a public media entity.
How people consume news and entertainment has changed significantly and will only continue to evolve and for TVNZ it will be a case of trying to walk and chew gum at the same time as it better fits into the public entity model, while keeping its commercial arm in play.
There will be a change in programming and an emphasis on different types, but likely not in the short term, as it will take more than a few months for TVNZ to work out how it can do that and not risk losing its audience to platforms like Netflix, YouTube and others.
Questions around how its news sharing might change are also still to be worked out.
RNZ’s news feed is used as a wire service for multiple other media outlets in New Zealand already.
In the future there could be more sharing of content and pooling, for example, where TVNZ provides livestream feeds to other outlets to free up their resource for other things.
That is all much further down the track though.
The changes to come will be the biggest shift in public media in decades. Working out the details will need to be done carefully over time.
