Katherine Rich National Broadcasting Spokesperson

11 September 2001

60 Minutes latest casualty of Charter

Ditching 60 Minutes shows that the hatchet job on New Zealand's favourite shows has started as TVNZ struggles with the impossible task of preparing for the Charter with no extra funding, National's Broadcasting spokesperson Katherine Rich said.

"The Government told TVNZ it had to reprioritise its programming budget and this slash is one of the first examples of many to come.

"It was always clear that the Charter was going to be implemented at the cost of overseas sourced shows that New Zealanders love.

"The irony is that the first show to be axed is one of the world's top current affairs formats that sets international benchmarks in quality reporting. 60 Minutes rates extremely well and TVNZ's decision will mean more lost advertising revenue.

"60 Minutes gave us a window to the world. It's always been apparent that Marian Hobbs' broadcasting vision has had difficulty looking beyond the New Zealand lounge.

"If it's goodbye 60 Minutes, what next? Goodbye Coronation St? TVNZ made it clear that the future of overseas shows like Coro' could be affected by the Charter - losing 60 Minutes is just the latest casualty," Mrs Rich said.

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