Vision-impaired Minister must explain her vision for TVNZ

"The Draft TVNZ charter as outlined in newspapers this weekend shows that 10 months after the election Marian Hobbs still doesn't have any real ideas about the future of television," National's Katherine Rich said today.

"The Minister needs to come clean about what her plans are for broadcasting in this country. Specifically she must answer some key questions:

* Why has it taken her 10 months to create 3 pages of waffle and platitudes pasted together from other countries' charters?

* How does a plagiarised combination of the Charters of Australia's SBS, Britain's BBC and Channel 4, and Canada's CBC reflect New Zealand's 'unique broadcasting environment'?

* What in the Charter is so miraculous that it justifies slashing the value of TVNZ, a taxpayer owned $1.9 billion asset?

* Does she understand that while New Zealanders knew that Labour was against selling TVNZ, they did not expect that it was going to give it away to the Rupert Murdoch owned Sky?

* How can she justify making Sky compulsory in New Zealand homes simply so they can watch their own TV channels?

"It is time that Marian Hobbs realised that some New Zealanders do not view television as a part of their personal growth and education goals? Government dreams of a "shared experience" that New Zealanders enjoyed in the 70s when we had one channel are not realistic in a multi-channel digital age.

"Most New Zealanders just want to be entertained. If TV One and TV2 do not provide them with what they want to watch they will choose one of many other channels available in New Zealand and the public channels will become ghetto-ised," Katherine Rich said.

Ends

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