Pasifika TV And Māori Television Partner To Launch New Pacific Contribution Hub

Māori Television and Pasifika TV, a 24/7 channel service of Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL), today announced the successful launch of a new Pacific Contribution Hub (PacHub) to be housed at Māori Television’s East Tāmaki Studio.

PacHub is the culmination of significant investment and hard work over the last twelve months, including PCBL’s Pasifika TV service and regional infrastructure upgrade to better support its network of Pacific broadcasters. In September 2019, PCBL relaunched Pasifika TV as a 24/7 channel service and upgraded satellite receivers at 24 broadcasters across 14 Pacific countries enabling the transition from a Standard Definition (SD) to a High Definition (HD) feed ensuring the channel’s streaming capabilities are future-proofed for a digital age.

In January 2020, Pasifika TV and Māori Television embarked on a collaborative partnership to build the new PacHub service. This new service provides the facility to receive content from Pacific broadcasters, which can then be shared out across the Pacific nations. This new two-way contribution between New Zealand and the Pacific enables the opportunity to build stronger ties through the sharing of Pasifika and Māori stories and ideas. Despite the operational challenges and delays encountered as a result of COVID-19, both organisations are excited to help bring the vision to life when the new service officially launches on Friday July 31.

“The Pacific Contribution Hub (PacHub) has been the missing link in our conversation with the Pacific. We want our Pacific broadcasters to maximise their potential and produce more local content to share with each other, so we are also providing additional training to support them,” said PCBL Chief Executive Officer Natasha Meleisea.

“Working with Māori Television to help bring our vision to life was a natural fit. It has been an effective collaboration and co-design process throughout the journey. We are privileged to work with a partner who shares similar values to us and our Pacific partners around language, identity and culture,” she adds.

“Māori Television is proud to help support our Pasifika whānau in the creation and distribution of important Māori and Pasifika stories and perspectives around the region. Our collaborative partnership with Pasifika TV is an excellent example of a joined up, collaborative and future proofed Media Sector,” said Māori Television’s Tāhuhu Rangapū Shane Taurima.

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