Labour views on TV channel

Press, 19 August 1983, Page 5

Labour views on TV channel

PA Wellington A private television company allowed to start a third channel should broadcast nationally, said the Leader of the Labour Party, Mr Lange, yesterday. The Labour Party would not be happy to see a group headed by the publishing company, Wilson and Horton, Ltd, allowed to start broadcasting in the Auckland area, he said at a press conference. He said Labour was emphatic that there should be

an effective return to the Broadcasting Corporation for the use of its resources. Labour was not averse in principle to a third channel, although it questioned whether there should be one now “given the economic straitjacket we are in.” The private company should also be levied for part of the cost of transforming one of the existing channels into a noncommercial station.

“The third principle we are concerned about is that

cross-ownership of media, current affairs, and political commentary outlets ought not to be encouraged and, in fact, should be limited.

“We see in the goal of Wilson and Horton to have in the Auckland region the vast circulation of the ‘New Zealand Herald’ in the morning coupled with their network on a regional basis at night as not being in the best interests of New Zealand,” he said. Mr Lange said that clearly private television

ought to have a regional base, “but it should be an accumulation of regions so that you can have the immediate warmth of the regional services, but all throughout New Zealand. “If you are going to do it you should have nation-wide coverage,” said Mr Lange. He also said that regional television would be a problem for the Government in election year because people in other regions would want the same service.