Public Television
New Zealand does not have a commercial-free public television broadcaster like the BBC in the UK or ABC in Australia, but there are public broadcasting services required of the state-owned commercial broadcaster.Television New Zealand (TVNZ)
TVNZ is the state-owned broadcaster, operating TV One and TV2. The Labour-led government refocused TVNZ in the period after 1999 by changing its status from that of State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) to Crown Owned Company, effectively moving away from a primarily commercial focus to more emphasis on public service objectives. TVNZ was given a Charter, effective from March 2003, embracing a broad range of programming objectives, including the requirement to inform, educate and entertain.
It was also given direct government funding, initially $15 million per year, rising to $16 million in FY 2005. The previous requirement to return a dividend to the government as an SOE, usually 70% of profits, was amended to a requirement to return to the government the cost of capital.
The TVNZ Act 2003 requires TVNZ to balance dual objectives – to maintain commercial performance at the same time as fulfilling its Charter.
The Act also separated out TVNZ’s transmission activities, with its transmission arm Kordia (formerly know as BCL) becoming a separate SOE under the banner Transmission Holdings (THL).