Transtasman Fix Found To Appease TriTV Viewers

Transtasman fix found to appease Triangle and Stratos viewers

Problems in the United States between the PBS and Voice of America (VOA) TV networks has had an effect in New Zealand and called for a bit of Kiwi ingenuity.

Jim Blackman, chief executive of Triangle and Stratos television channels, says the channels have not been able to access the Lehrer Newshour due to negotiations between the two US parties.

“While we were disappointed, our viewers were clearly annoyed and like us didn’t understand the reasons why,” says Blackman, who says the huge number of calls to the station spurred his team into finding a Kiwi fix.

“We contacted PBS direct and got permission to rebroadcast the Newshour at least in the meantime from another source. Transtasman cooperation came into play and viewers will be able to quickly identify our ‘mysterious’ benefactor.”

But this has meant some changes to the published schedule. While The Lehrer Newshour will go out at the regular time on TTV Auckland and Wellington, it has been rescheduled at 6:30pm on Stratos. However, Nightly Business Report which covers the day’s activity on Wall Street is also mixed up in the US issues and will not be available.

Some other programmes may have to move to accommodate the fix, but Blackman says the stations needed to respond to the call from viewers to “get their programme back on air”.

The response backs up a recent Neilsen Media cumulative audience survey that revealed Triangle in Auckland had more than 400,000 viewers during October.

Triangle, which is celebrating its 10th year on air in Auckland, is well known for being the channel that broadcasts material for and with ethnic, cultural and sporting communities throughout the country. It has a strong Pacific Island following, as well as niche audiences such as the small Ghanaian community.

But its reputation is also growing throughout New Zealand, together with Stratos, for being the channel that offers alternative views on world news.

The channels screen news and current affairs services in English from Al Jazeera, Euro News, Deutsche Welle (DW), Voice of America, PBS, McLaughlin Group (US politics), Frost over the World (David Frost) and Tongan, Fijian, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, French, Swiss, Flemish, Greek, Russian, Chinese, Thai and Japanese language news.

© Scoop Media