MEDIA RELEASE
Taxpayers mourn failure of The Spinoff TV

25 JULY 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The failure of The Spinoff TV is a perfect example of how extra funding for the media could be wasted, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.

Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director Jordan Williams says, “With so much taxpayer money on the line, no-one was a bigger cheerleader for The Spinoff TV’s success than the Taxpayers’ Union.”

“Sadly, the show has been an abysmal failure, getting shunted out of its timeslot and receiving a viewership of just 4,000 for its latest episode. With a taxpayer subsidy of about $44,000 per episode, that’s an $11 subsidy for every person tuning in.”

“We were especially sad to see one reviewer liken the series to ‘when the kids in your life put on a "show" and you have to pretend to love it so as not to hurt their tiny feelings’.”

“Clearly, talent and popular appeal is not required to fulfil ones C-grade TV host fantasies on the taxpayer’s dollar.”

“The question now is what on earth NZ on Air thought it was doing when it gave $700,000 to a clique of wannabe millennials making left-wing skits for young Aucklanders who don’t even own TVs. This kind of waste is a strong argument for cancelling the extra $15 millioncurrently set to go to public broadcasting.”

ENDS

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