Reorganised TV to ‘cut duplication’
PA Wellington An administrative merger of New Zealand’s television channels was announced by the chairman of the Broadcasting Corporation (Mr lan Cross) yesterday. The move, which will not take effect for some months, was described by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) as “a blank cheque for the creation of another centralised bureaucracy.” Television journalists asserted that the changes represented the “destruction of the last vestiges of the two-channel system.”
Camera and news teams from both channels were present at a news conference when Mr Cross answered questions on the merger, which will effectively eliminate competition in most services and reduce the duplication of facilities. “I would be very angry if there was a TVI and a TV2 plane flying to the same foundering yacht,” Mr Cross said, after saying that he expected duplication of news coverage would be reduced. Mr Cross said that TVI
and TV2 would change into a “unified two-channel operation.” The changes were designed to give a wider range of programming to viewers than was possible now, he said. They would also rationalise the use of facilities by both channels. The unified administration would compromise two services, each under a director-general and with responsibilities for both services.
One service would be responsible for all local production using facilities in the four main centres and Hamilton. The second service would be responsible for scheduling programmes, purchasing overseas programmes, and for advertising for both channels. Mr Cross made it clear that television licence fees would not rise immediately. But he said he had made a case to the Minister of Broadcasting (Mr Templeton) for an increase and it was “on his plate right now.” The changes in the twochannel system were .expected to mean long-term savings, but it was not possible at this stage to say what they would amount to, he said.
Mr Cross said television had made significant progress in recent years, but as coverage of TV2 had extended, it had become clear that the competitive division of the two channels was creating difficulties. The career structure of television employees would be unaffected in the great majority of cases, he said, but there would be some “redispositioning” at executive level. There would be no staff redundancies, but this did not mean staff would be standing round doing nothing.
Advertising would remain an important element in television’s revenue. He did not believe there would be any fall in advertising because salesmen were selling it for a unified advertising department rather than for two separate channels. Mr Cross was asked how significant financial pressure was in bringing about the changes. Financial considerations were a factor, he said, but the changes would have been made regardless of whether television had financial problems.
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Press, 15 February 1979, Page 1
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459Reorganised TV to ‘cut duplication’ Press, 15 February 1979, Page 1
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