Russell Brown on TVNZ

From Public Address blog (the post contains very good links to background information:

"Ralston also regards the present management as just another bunch of dupes who'll lose their heads when they fail to meet the board's performance targets, or when the government changes. I think he's missing a few things. The development and launch of tvnzondemand and the creation of TVNZ 6 and 7 have been pretty efficient. The wholesale loss of staff from Breakfast to TV3's forthcoming Sunrise has been fairly bizarre, but it would be wise to wait and see whether TV3 can actually turn a dollar out of a shared break TV audience, which was small enough anyway, before declaring a disaster.

The comparison with the Fraser era is telling: that was marked by some awful recruitment decisions -- which did far more damage than the flaps over star salaries -- and a damaging bout of feuding with major independent producers. Given TVNZ's long history of scorched earth and policy reversal under successive management regimes, the shift under Ellis has actually been fairly civilised. The likes of John Barnett -- whose company has done incredibly well for TVNZ -- are welcome back in the building, and seem comfortable being there. The endless discussion over rights issues continues, but it appears to be businesslike, rather than bitter, in tone.

But oddly enough, I agree with Ralston and Fraser's key points: TVNZ can't have the Ministry of Culture and Heritage sitting on its shoulder forever. There are legitimate expectations of a public broadcaster in fulfilling public policy goals. Freeview, as noted above, is one example. But sooner rather than later, a clear, independent role for TVNZ must be established. That doesn't necessarily mean a split or a sale of part of the business: the present management's demarcation of "public value" and "commercial value" in its activities represents a reasonable way of managing its duties. But whatever solution emerges will come from solid thinking about TVNZ's future; not from a repeat season of the soap opera."


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