Richness, Breadth and Diversity

Richness, Breadth and Diversity

Funding allocated at NZ On Air's October meeting will ensure the needs of a widely diverse range of special interest television audiences are met in the year ahead.

"The breadth of programming on offer is huge," said NZ ON Air Chief Executive, Jo Tyndall. "Many of these are returning series, and we're pleased to be able to support programmes for such a variety of audiences. There's a wide range of ideas being presented, and the continued improvement in the production standards of these series gives us the confidence to keep backing them."

More than five million dollars of NZ On Air's Special Interest television budget was allocated at the October meeting, and that funding will support more than 90 hours per week of Teletext captioning next year, in addition to a stable of programmes that includes the community-based Open Door, Asia Down Under, Inside Out, Praise Be, and Queer Nation.

"We signalled our intention to continue to support these important programmes in both the five-year strategic plan we released earlier this year, and in our Statement of Intent. The allocations made at this meeting are the follow-through on that commitment," said Ms Tyndall.

"Given the size of the audience for these types of programmes, they would simply not proceed in a commercial environment. NZ On Air has the ability to ensure they do proceed, and that they are screened on free-to-air channels that reach a nation-wide audience.

"We also make sure that they are available for rescreening on regional television channels at no charge after their first free-to-air broadcast, and that means an even larger audience has the opportunity to see them," said Ms Tyndall.

Funding details:

Open Door 5 $300,621 10 x ½ hour Broadcaster: TV3 Producer: Keith Lambert Morningside Productions

Te Kopara up to $330,975 16 x ½ hour Broadcaster: TV3 Producer: Claudette Hauiti Front of the Box Productions

Asia Down Under 2004 $1,100,672 40 x ½ hour Broadcaster: TV One Producer: Kim Webby Asia Vision Ltd

Inside Out 2004 $1,000,000 40 x ½ hour Broadcaster: TV One Producer: Bryan Williams Long White Cloud Television

Praise Be 2004 $615,491 46 x ½ hour, 1 x 1 hour Broadcaster: TV One Producer: Ron Pledger TVNZ Avalon Productions

Queer Nation 2004 $375,547 13 x ½ hour Broadcaster: TV2 Producer: Andrew Whiteside Livingstone Productions

Mâori Sports Awards 2003 $50,465 1 x 1½ hour Broadcaster: TV One Producer: Derek Wooster TVNZ

Captioning 2004 $1,500,000 90+ hours per week Broadcaster: TV One, TV2 and TV3 Producer: Alison Munro, Captioning Manager, TVNZ TVNZ

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