Early Inquiry On Competitive TV

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32127, 24 October 1969, Page 1

Early Inquiry On Competitive TV

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 23. The Broadcasting Authority will begin an early inquiry into the means by which competitive black and white television could be introduced in New Zealand.

The authority will also inquire into the method by which colour television could be introduced in the competitive channels. This was announced today by the Minister of Broadcasting (Mr Adams-Schneider).

He said: “We have reached the stage where it is certain that we will have secondchannel coverage before very long.” The Minister said the terms of reference for the inquiry passed to the authority were very detailed and broadly based.

The authority would need to take into account the needs of New Zealand for a second channel and possible subsequent channels including the timing, economic effects and the various methods of introducing another channel or channels for monochrome and colour television, and the system and standards that ■ should be adopted for colour television. Private Enterprise

It would also consider the best way of introducing private enterprise competition, the possibility of public share participation and the protection of New Zealand ownership and independence.

“There is also the need to decide on the best way of protecting the interests of the N.Z.B.C. with the introduction of competitive television,” the Minister said. The likely economic effects through purchases of receiving sets in black and white

and in colour, the likely effects on programme costs, and methods of avoiding increased costs would also have to be examined. There was also the likely effect on staffing of the introduction of competitive television in New Zealand, and colour television in Australia some time before it was introduced in New Zealand. “The authority will have to consider the statutory responsibilities of the New Zealand Post Office and the N.Z.8.C., and the short-tenn and longterm national interest,” Mr Adams-Schneider said. Transmission Authority “It will also have to consider the desirability of establishing a transmission authority to ensure efficient overall use of facilities, and whether the N.Z.B.C. should be required to lease available facilities to other operators.” The Minister said that the

authority would have to consider assistance to the arts and educational television and the part that should be played by the corporation and private enterprise in these fields. The maximum exploitation of the limited number of V.H.F. channels available for television and the future development of the television service using V.H.F. and U.H.F. television bands, would have to be considered. Change in Service There was also the necessity or desirability of a change in television services in terms of area of coverage, programme hours and content: whether there should be some more formal or strict censorship of television programmes to ensure a high moral standard of presentation: and the policy to be applied in relation to television diffusion services, in particular those using radio frequency transmission.