The money the Government is looking at taking out of TVNZ should be used to provide increased local content and better quality programmes, Green Party Broadcasting Spokesperson Sue Kedgley said today.

Ms Kedgley said the Governments proposal to extract a 'special dividend' from TVNZ would break Labour's pre-election promise to allow TVNZ to retain a greater proportion of its potential dividends and to concentrate on providing quality television.

"The proposed Charter setting out new programme objectives for TVNZ will be meaningless unless the Government is prepared to put its money where its mouth is and provide additional funding for high quality New Zealand programmes," said Ms Kedgley.

"The Labour Party's broadcasting policy promised quite explicitly that Labour's priority for Television New Zealand would be on providing a quality service rather than providing a dividend to government."

The proposal to siphon off cash from TVNZ for further capital expenditure would be a clear breach of this pre-election commitment, she said.

"How can we expect to see a commitment to fund more and better New Zealand programmes on national television as well as more ethical broadcasting - such as the removal of advertising during children's programmes - if the Government is looking to take cash from TVNZ to put into other areas," asked Ms Kedgley.

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