20 September 2007

Freeview to broadcast Parliament TV

Parliament TV, which produces the full unedited proceedings of Parliament, is to be screened live on Freeview from 9 October 2007. This follows the successful launch of the service on the Parliamentary website on 17 July.

The Speaker, Hon Margaret Wilson, said the viewing numbers have been good via the website but she had always known that to reach the most people the service had to be available on television.

‘I’m delighted to reach an agreement with Freeview because this is a further step in the ongoing rollout of Parliament TV across a range of communications channels and networks.

‘Launching Parliament TV on the Parliament website first enabled us to fine-tune the service and consider the best possible options to reach more New Zealanders,’ she said.

At the end of July, 100,000 viewers in 41,000 homes around the country had access to Freeview. Take-up is expected to increase over the coming years as digital television becomes commonplace in New Zealand homes.

Parliament is also negotiating to provide the service to TelstraClear’s 43,000 subscribers in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch with access expected by late this year or early in 2008. Talks are underway with SKY TV to broadcast the full service.

Parliament TV will continue to be available at www.parliament.nz while feeds of the live coverage will be made available to broadcasters. Radio broadcasts will be unchanged.

The House sits for approximately 17.5 hours per week for more than 30 weeks of the year. For details of sitting times go to: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ThisWk/

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