Put the Viewers in Charge of TVNZ: Sell It!

Rodney Hide Monday, 31 October 2005 Press Releases - Broadcasting

ACT leader Rodney Hide said today that the festering sore of TVNZ's political shenanigans and mismanagement should be properly addressed.

"TVNZ has had scandal after scandal with overspending, mismanagement and political interference.

"TVNZ screwed the election outcome by running a shonky poll claiming I was 14 per cent behind in Epsom. The poll was false. I won the seat 8 days later by 8.5 per cent. That false TVNZ poll had a devastating effect on ACT's election result.

"TVNZ Chief Ian Fraser has now quit, complaining that TVNZ's board is politically-appointed and has been interfering in news and current affairs.

"The problems at TVNZ run deep. It's a political football. The charter requirements conflict with its commercial objectives, and being state owned, it can't raise the capital it needs to develop the business.

"TVNZ should be taken out of the political arena and privatised. That would put viewers in charge, like they are at TV3, which has out- performed TVNZ without the benefit of the millions of dollars in subsidy that TVNZ has enjoyed.

"It's the viewers who should be deciding the fate and content of TVNZ, not politicians and their appointed hacks. That's precisely what private ownership and the profit motive will deliver", concluded Rodney Hide.

ENDS

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