Media release

17 July 2007

Parliament TV goes live

From today, the full unedited proceedings of Parliament can be viewed on line at:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/Visiting/LiveBroadcast/

Parliament’s Speaker Hon Margaret Wilson said the move makes the proceedings of Parliament more accessible to people in their own homes and workplaces.

‘This is an important day for our democracy,’ she said.

Eight remote-controlled cameras film the proceedings of Parliament on sitting days from question-time at 2pm through debates and the consideration of legislation until the House rises.

In all, approximately 17.5 hours per week will be streamed on the website, when the House is sitting. For details of sitting times go to:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ThisWk/ Ms Wilson said web-casting was a good first step towards bringing Parliament closer to the public.

‘Ultimately I would like to see the full proceedings broadcast on television,’ she said. ‘But we’re taking this one step at a time, starting with web-casting from the chamber before we move on to select committees and live television coverage.

It has cost $4.137 million to set up the service. Annual running costs will be $1.785 million. The coverage will be archived.

Radio broadcasts of Parliament are not affected by the web-casting and will continue.

ENDS

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