Faafoi Kris: Television New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Faafoi Kris: Television New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:672;Page:18763] 
KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana) 
: 
 Mr Chair thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to Part 2 of the Television New Zealand Amendment Bill. I will follow the lead of a number of speakers before me and concentrate on new section 57A which relates to the rescreening of archived material. 
There is a wealth of archived material in the Avalon Studios vault; I have been there myself. I think it is a good thing that New Zealanders will have the opportunity to see some of the material that has been locked away in that vault for some time and also that there will be a framework set up to ensure that those who may have claim to royalties should their work be rescreened will be able to do that. 
As my colleague Clare Curran said the legislation is very specific as to what is considered archived material. It includes programmes or series that were produced before 27 May 1989. We agree that these shows should be screened again. I have a vague memory of some of them such as  
Close to Home 
.  
Mortimer’s Patch  
is something I do not really recall— 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: But you remember the McDonald’s. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: Yes; I was too busy with the McDonald’s. Something that probably the member for Maungakiekie would remember better is  
Gloss 
—I am sure he was a big fan of  
Gloss 
 at the time.  
Hudson and Halls  
was maybe a show he enjoyed but I am sure judging by some of his contributions in the Committee he was more a fan of Billy T. James. 
As we have said it is fantastic to see some of this material rescreened for nostalgia opportunities. It is an opportunity for younger New Zealanders to see some of what has shaped New Zealand in terms of what is on our screens. It is an opportunity for us to see that and have a sense of identity. 
But as our previous speakers have asked what will be done with this content? What exactly will be done with this content and who will be able to access it? The commentary on the bill sets out very clearly that programming can be rescreened by a provider of another delivery platform that has an agreement with TVNZ for the supply of that content. It goes on to state that the committee recommends a new section “to make it clear that an archived work screened under this section must be screened free of charge to the viewer. We believe that archived programmes constitute a public good so the viewer should bear no cost.” 
But at the moment what situation do we have? This content is being played on the Sky platform via TVNZ Heartland. That is pay-per-view television so if people want to see some of this material that has been produced via the public broadcaster TVNZ which has been funded by New Zealand taxpayers over decades people will have to fork out for it. As the Minister said if that is in the public interest which public is it? It is the paying public. 
I have done a bit of research. The TVNZ Heartland platform is available on a basic Sky package which costs $47.66 a month. 
Hon Lianne Dalziel 
: How much? 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: $47.66 a month. If people want to watch this stuff using the current way to watch it via Sky they will have to fork out $50 a month. That is hardly in the public interest of all New Zealanders. 
How is it in the public interest under the current model? Under this Sky platform the programming is supposed to be 100 percent local content. That is fine. It is supposed to be a celebration of New Zealanders and to show some of New Zealand’s finest shows but it is only available to Sky subscribers. Not even FreeView subscribers have the ability to tune into TVNZ Heartland. If this is the model we will see in the future for TVNZ content—content that has been built up over decades content that is very important in terms of educating future generations of New Zealanders about how New Zealand has progressed—and if the only way we will get it is via a pay-per-view television platform then I think that it is a very sad day for New Zealand broadcasting indeed. 
As I said it is not available to all New Zealanders and it costs $50 a month. Currently TVNZ has this archive and what will be done with it? 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: You are well off-track. 
KRIS FAAFOI 
: I think this is a fantastic opportunity to open up the archive as I said before. We can take a look at the past and see how our nation has grown through some of these programmes. Some of them are high-quality; some of them will be of questionable quality. 
I am glad that this legislation does not include news content. It applies basically only to content that has come through productions. It is good that those who have worked on it those who have come up with the ideas will have fair compensation for it.