New Zealand

• Author: Jim Tully
• Pages: 421-444

NEW

ZEALAND

BY

JIM

TULLY

istorically,

most broadcasting services

in

New

Zealand were pro-

vided

by the

government. Private radio emerged

in the

late 1960s,

but

television remained wholly

government-run

until 1989, when

a

more competitive market

for

broadcasting services

was

established.

The

Broadcasting

Amendment

Act (No 2),

19881

dissolved

the

existing corpora-

tion

and

replaced

it

with

two

state-owned companies, Radio

New

Zealand

Ltd.

and

Television

New

Zealand Ltd.

The

Broadcasting

Act,

19892

limited overseas ownership

to no

more

than

15

per

cent

of the

voting interest

of any

broadcasting company. This

restriction

on

overseas shareholdings

of New

Zealand broadcasting com-

panies

was

removed

two

years

later.3

Pressure

for

private enterprise television grew

in the

1980s.

The

1984

Labour

government, which initiated several

free

market policies, ordered

a

royal commission

of

inquiry into

the

future

of

broadcasting

in New

Zealand4

and

invited applications

for a

third channel.

Television

New

Zealand Ltd.

(TVNZ)

operates

two

national channels,

five

regional stations, Teletext,

and

supplies programs

to

several South

1.

Broadcasting

Amendment

Act (No 2)

1988,

ss. 5 and 7.

2.

Broadcasting

Act

1989,

s.

62.

3.

Broadcasting

Amendment

Act

1991,

s.

2(1).

4.

Royal

Commission

into

Broadcasting

and

Related

Telecommunications

in New

Zealand.

421

H

A.

OWNERSHIP

AND

REGULATION

OF

THE

MASS MEDIA

i)

Locally Owned

Mass

Media

a)

Electronic Media

Pacific

nations.

Its

other national

and

international activities include signal

distribution, transmission consultancy

and

program production.

As a

state-owned enterprise,

its

government-appointed

board

of

directors

has a

duty

to

ensure that

the

undertaking

is

commercially

successful.

According

to its

annual report

its

tax-paid

profit

for the

31

December 1996 year

was

NZ$60.5

million.

Since

1989,

a

range

of

other television operators, national

and

local,

has

emerged,

principally

TV3

Network

Services

Ltd., which provides

the

other

substantial

free-to-air

national network outside TVNZ.

New

Zealand's

first

pay

television network,

Sky

Television,

was

initiated

in

1990

and now has

sixteen channels,

both

UHF and

digital. Commercial cable television

was

launched

in

1993.

Since

1989, radio

has

taken

a

path

different

from

that

of

television.

Public radio exists

in the

form

of

Radio

New

Zealand,

a

state-owned enter-

prise

that, under section

7 of the

Radio

New

Zealand

Act

1995,

has a

statu-

tory

function

(expressed

as a

charter)

of

providing innovative, compre-

hensive,

and

independent quality broadcasting.

It

comprises

a

national

news

service;

an

international shortwave service

funded

by the

Ministry

of

Foreign

Affairs

and

Trade;

and

three radio networks,

one of

which

is

essen-

tially dedicated

to

news

and

current

affairs.

The

former

commercial state radio stations were sold

to the

Radio Net-

work

of New

Zealand Ltd.,

a

consortium

of New

Zealand

and

overseas

media

and

communications companies, which began operating

as a

private

broadcaster

in

1996. With

its

other acquisitions,

the

network

had

fifty-six

radio stations

—

about one-third

of the

commercial stations

in the

country.

Deregulation

in

1989

was

accompanied

by

legislation

— the

Radio

Communications

Act—

that

established

a

market system

for

spectrum allo-

cation

by

tender, with

up to

twenty-year,

fully

transferable property rights.

Broadcasters

with warrants granted

by the

Broadcasting Tribunal, which

ceased

to

exist

in

1989, were entitled

to a

twenty-year licence. (Under

the

Broadcasting

Authority Act, 1968,

applications

for

warrants

were

consid-

ered

taking into account

(1) the

desirability

of

avoiding monopolies

in

media ownership;

(2) the

economic impact

of new

stations

on

those

already

established;

(3) the

public interest,

and (4) the

financial

ability

of

the

applicant

to

implement

the

proposed service.)

Ultra

High Frequency (UHF)

television

and the FM and AM

frequen-

cies

were then

subject

to

tender, with provision

for a

frequency

rental

pending

the

completion

of the

tender process. Registered licensees

pay an

annual administration

fee to a

government ministry.

COUNTRY

REPORTS

422