On Media7 this week
Thursdays at 9.05pm, with encore screenings on Friday at
9.05am & 1.05pm, Sunday at 10.05pm, Monday at 10.05am and
2.05pm.
Going... Going... ?
On December 23rd. , while most New Zealanders were busily
completing their Christmas shopping, the plug was quietly pulled on
Stratos Television.
Stratos finished transmission on the Sky, Freeview and Telstra
Clear networks, after a little more than four years broadcasting
citing, "transmission costs coupled with the economic environment
and general lack of support on all levels."
But paradoxically, when the channel shut, it was reaching a growing
cumulative audience of more than one million New Zealanders each
month... an audience that had been building throughout the four
year life of Stratos.
Now that audience is denied a range of multi-cultural New Zealand
shows as well as international news and current affairs from the
likes of Deutsch Welle and Al Jazeera... all of them are considered
"non-commercial offerings".
So where does this leave public service broadcasting in New
Zealand?
Media7 this week examines the state of public service TV and asks
if it is too late to reverse the decision that will see TVNZ 7 go
the same way as Stratos by the end of June this year.
Despite a NZ Herald editorial which derisively dismissed the TVNZ 7
audience at a little over 200-thousand, the figures show that 1.4
million viewers used the channel last December and that the
audience is growing.
Since Christmas, we have a new Minister for Broadcasting, Craig
Foss, and the letters columns of the newspapers and The Listener
have seen numerous letters from prominent and ordinary kiwis
deploring the parlous state of public service broadcasting.
Craig Foss declined our invitation to appear on the programme as he
settles into his portfolio but Rachel Cunliffe of Throng TV, Film
Industry veteran Lindsay Shelton and Peter Bell President of the
Screen Directors' Guild, will join with Russell Brown to discuss
the issue.
Media7 is recorded in front of a live audience in the TVNZ Auckland
Television Centre on Wednesday evenings and is first broadcast at
9.05pm on Thursdays on TVNZ 7.
The show is replayed several times during the week. (Friday 9.05
am and 1.05 pm, Sunday 11.05 pm and Monday 10.05 am and 2.05
pm)
Media7 is broadcast both on FreeView and on Sky Channel 77. It is
also available on demand from
TVNZ's
website
, can be downloaded as a podcast
http://tvnz.co.nz/media7/podcasts-2757335
and is available on
YouTube
.
There is also a
Media7 FaceBook page for viewers to place their
feedback and to learn more about the show and follow us on twitter
@media7nz.
People wishing to attend the Media7 recording session and to be
part of the audience should go to TVNZ TVC entrance in Hobson
Street Auckland between 5.15 and 5.45 pm
