The other issue you get with NZ drama is that how much overseas sales can you rely on to help fund the production of 'High Quality TV' NZ programmes. The likes of Sopranos know they have a overseas market as well as a domestic market to sell to.
And what some people here don't realise is that a lot of the US channels such as HBO, FX, Showtime have a lot of filler content to pad 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
KiwiNZ: It is no secret that New Zealand television sucks. It has been ruined by poor management and lack of any real competition. Freeview started with such great promise and potential but has been systematically ruined by poor Network management, Government policy and anti competitive activity that if it were occurring overseas would have seen anti-trust and similar prosecutions.
NZers have the option of pay TV that offers 95% repeats or TV+1 channels (repeats by another method) and a couple of average channels.
Now I know NZ is a limited market place and we do pay a cost because of that in the way of higher prices and crappier service but surely there is a way for it to be better.
Should TVNZ revert to commercial free with a licence fee? Should TVNZ be sold to private enterprise to get the Beehive nutters out of it ? Do we need a third player, a 2 Degrees for TV so to speak ?
Oh and another thing, for the love Jiminy Cricket can we just get rid of all the reality TV and rubbish talent shows and Shortland Street.
What do the bright folks of GZ think should happen with TV services in NZ?
Re-introduce a licence fee and setup a BBC/Radio NZ style public broadcaster.
Sell off the commercial Tv2 etc.
Make it easier for a third player to establish with inducements for full HD services.
I am all for selling tvnz, as it is now so dumbed down. Whether that was intentional, so selling would be easier, I don't know. BUt the future is TV over the internet. The bad thing about freeview channels being such poor quality and ratings driven, is that it isn't good for democracy, and political discussion
mattwnz: I am all for selling tvnz, as it is now so dumbed down. Whether that was intentional, so selling would be easier, I don't know. BUt the future is TV over the internet. The bad thing about freeview channels being such poor quality and ratings driven, is that it isn't good for democracy, and political discussion
with the intransigence Telco's have over data management TV over the internet will take a very long time to become the norm in NZ.
As for selling TVNZ I am at two minds over this, selling it will eventually see it swallowed up by a large mainly offshore owned corporate and disappear. It could be retained as a state owned enterprise if they were not required to hand over most of their profits to the Government allowing for reinvestment and better content, or they could be run along the lines that the BBC is in the UK.
mattwnz: I am all for selling tvnz, as it is now so dumbed down. Whether that was intentional, so selling would be easier, I don't know. BUt the future is TV over the internet. The bad thing about freeview channels being such poor quality and ratings driven, is that it isn't good for democracy, and political discussion
with the intransigence Telco's have over data management TV over the internet will take a very long time to become the norm in NZ.
As for selling TVNZ I am at two minds over this, selling it will eventually see it swallowed up by a large mainly offshore owned corporate and disappear. It could be retained as a state owned enterprise if they were not required to hand over most of their profits to the Government allowing for reinvestment and better content, or they could be run along the lines that the BBC is in the UK.
I am all for freeview being rebranded as something like tvnz or kiwi tv, and it having it's own channel. Perhaps even getting into content buying and distribution. The porblem is that sky tv have most of the good content, especially sport, all wrapped up, not leaving a lot left over for free to air channels. But that doesn't stop TVNZ screening the best programs in offpeak times.
The other issue you get with NZ drama is that how much overseas sales can you rely on to help fund the production of 'High Quality TV' NZ programmes. The likes of Sopranos know they have a overseas market as well as a domestic market to sell to.
And what some people here don't realise is that a lot of the US channels such as HBO, FX, Showtime have a lot of filler content to pad 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
But CBS, NBC, ABC also have a lot of filler as well. By this I meaning that TV anywhere has content that people don't like or think isn't quality, including countries with 280 million people. So why do we think NZ with 4 million people is going to have high quality all the time.
ilovemusic,
How much do you think you would need in licence fee to produce the quality you want and do you really think people will pay it?
wishful thinking i suppose, especially as others have said the future is the internet.
personally speaking, i'd happily pay $100-200pa for a radio nz quality service.
anyone know what the licence fee is in the uk ?
When we had licensing in NZ, I recall it was between $100-200pa, so with inflation, I wouldn't be surprised if that would be upwards of $400. We are already paying for it anyway out of our taxes, as the previous model was too difficult to police and expensive to collect on. We don't want to go back to it. I recall in teh UK, they have vans driving around with tools that can check if there are people who haven't paid their bill, watching TV, which is creepy. We don't want to move to that system. The other thing is that you will get a llot more people complaining about the content, if they see they are paying a licensing fee, and I don't think the pollies want that.
KiwiNZ: TV1 ….OK TV2…..OK but too many repeats, reality TV and Shortland street TV3….. hardly watch it TV1 +1 waste of bandwidth TV2 +1 waste of bandwidth TV3 +1 waste of bandwidth C4 can't comment don't watch it Prime … OK Trackside… OK if that is what you are into Choice… OK Sommet…; OK ( get rid of your current logo) The Shopping Channel …. complete waste of space TVSN….. complete waste of space Parliament….. OK Cue… don't see it here Te Reo… don't have Sat Maori Television….OK Shine TV… never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested Firstlight ….never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested CTV8… never watched it a
whole bunch of regional stations, occasionally viewed when travelling Wellington does not have one. So much more could be done with the plus one space holders, they are just a terrible waste of spectrum just to stop competition picking them up.The same goes with the silly shopping channels.
KiwiNZ: TV1 ….OK TV2…..OK but too many repeats, reality TV and Shortland street TV3….. hardly watch it TV1 +1 waste of bandwidth TV2 +1 waste of bandwidth TV3 +1 waste of bandwidth C4 can't comment don't watch it Prime … OK Trackside… OK if that is what you are into Choice… OK Sommet…; OK ( get rid of your current logo) The Shopping Channel …. complete waste of space TVSN….. complete waste of space Parliament….. OK Cue… don't see it here Te Reo… don't have Sat Maori Television….OK Shine TV… never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested Firstlight ….never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested CTV8… never watched it a
whole bunch of regional stations, occasionally viewed when travelling Wellington does not have one. So much more could be done with the plus one space holders, they are just a terrible waste of spectrum just to stop competition picking them up.The same goes with the silly shopping channels.
wishful thinking i suppose, especially as others have said the future is the internet.
personally speaking, i'd happily pay $100-200pa for a radio nz quality service.
anyone know what the licence fee is in the uk ?
When we had licensing in NZ, I recall it was between $100-200pa, so with inflation, I wouldn't be surprised if that would be upwards of $400. We are already paying for it anyway out of our taxes, as the previous model was too difficult to police and expensive to collect on. We don't want to go back to it. I recall in teh UK, they have vans driving around with tools that can check if there are people who haven't paid their bill, watching TV, which is creepy. We don't want to move to that system. The other thing is that you will get a llot more people complaining about the content, if they see they are paying a licensing fee, and I don't think the pollies want that.
A) tvnz makes a profit, we don't subsidise it out of taxes. The only stuff that is subsidised is Nz onair, which is entirely separate from tvnz, and minuscule compared to the relative size of the bbc.
B) the licensing scanner van is an urban myth. All they do is assume that a household that has not paid its tv licence is trying to get out of it and knock on their doors, since almost every household has a tv or watches bbc iplayer
wishful thinking i suppose, especially as others have said the future is the internet.
personally speaking, i'd happily pay $100-200pa for a radio nz quality service.
anyone know what the licence fee is in the uk ?
When we had licensing in NZ, I recall it was between $100-200pa, so with inflation, I wouldn't be surprised if that would be upwards of $400. We are already paying for it anyway out of our taxes, as the previous model was too difficult to police and expensive to collect on. We don't want to go back to it. I recall in teh UK, they have vans driving around with tools that can check if there are people who haven't paid their bill, watching TV, which is creepy. We don't want to move to that system. The other thing is that you will get a llot more people complaining about the content, if they see they are paying a licensing fee, and I don't think the pollies want that.
A) tvnz makes a profit, we don't subsidise it out of taxes. The only stuff that is subsidised is Nz onair, which is entirely separate from tvnz, and minuscule compared to the relative size of the bbc.
B) the licensing scanner van is an urban myth. All they do is assume that a household that has not paid its tv licence is trying to get out of it and knock on their doors, since almost every household has a tv or watches bbc iplayer
I didn't say anything about TVNZ. The licensing fee when it existed was paid to NZ on air, which distributed it to different channels and programs, including radio NZ, which I think is the same way it works today. The only difference is that it now gets it's money directly from our taxes instead, funded from the government directly. I remember the old NZ on air logos at the end of programs that used to say, "this program was funded from your licensing fees, so you can see more of NZ on air".
If a license fee comes in, it is effectively an additional tax, as I can't see them reducing income tax or any other tax to compensate for it. As many people watch content from overseas these days over the internet, many people will not be willing to pay. I think the current suystem is far superior, as it takes away all the admin costs in collecting the fee. The only problem is that it isn't visable, as the money is collected silently from your taxes, and money collected by other taxes are also helping to pay for it.
In all the years we had a license fee I never paid it. Always believed that was what advertising was for. If that had been removed then it would have been a different story.
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