TVNZ guilty of bully-boy tactics

TVNZ is guilty of breaching its Statement of Intent with it's anti-competitive behaviour and bully-boy tactics, says National's Broadcasting spokeswoman, Georgina te Heuheu.

She is commenting on TVNZ's purchase of both ABC and 20/20, both of which are already available to viewers on TV3. The sale is the result of a bid of $1.3 million.

"TVNZ has muscled out the competition to buy something they don't need, for the sole reason of shutting out the competition, bringing virtually every global news provider comes under their auspices.

TVNZ's statement of intent says it 'will seek to be a responsible corporate citizen'. "But this is blatantly anti-competitive behaviour," says Ms te Heuheu.

"This is no longer a hands-off management issue that the Minister can ignore. He has the right to, and clearly should, step in.

"A breach of an SOE's Statement of Intent is a serious issue. New Zealanders have the right to expect good, healthy competition from their SOEs, but also a level of fairness.

"While the Minister sleeps on the job, TVNZ has become an out-of-control monster that will spend any amount of taxpayer money and do anything to squash the competition for advertising dollars," says Ms te Heuheu.

"It's time the Minister stepped in and put a stop to this anti-competitive behaviour".

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