Young Jonathan: Television New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Young Jonathan: Television New Zealand Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:672;Page:18285] 
JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I am pleased to stand and support the Television New Zealand Amendment Bill. The Government aims to replace the TVNZ charter with a briefer and less prescriptive statement of functions that will enable TVNZ to determine its own priorities against a general set of functions. The bill also specifies that TVNZ will provide content for a range of media in addition to the conventional television channels. 
The review of the TVNZ charter commenced under the previous Government. Many pundits in the industry at that point in time said that the charter was dysfunctional and needed review. Traditional one-to-many television broadcasting remains the dominant medium but it is being supplemented by a rapidly evolving viewing environment in which people choose personalised content from multiple sources. Part of the work that we want to do through this repeal is to allow TVNZ to determine its priorities regarding the mediums that are being used today for personalised content—such as mobile phones computers laptops and other tablet devices—which people tend more and more to view at their convenience. 
Page 3 of TVNZ’s statement of intent states that it intends to “Reach more New Zealanders in more ways: TVNZ will maximise target audience share on all available screens; drive two-way interaction with consumers; provide and promote opportunities for its clients to engage with consumers across all screens; and sustain its leading position as New Zealanders’ first choice for news information and entertainment.” We need I believe to trust the general public in their ability to discern good television. I understand that the members of the Opposition believe that that needs to be prescribed but we are not prescribing. We are endeavouring to enable those who are involved in the industry to take responsibility and also to enable those consumers to choose with responsibility good television. 
We are honouring our election promise to replace the current Television New Zealand charter with this less prescriptive list of functions and to leave the company free to determine its own priorities. In becoming a television and digital media company TVNZ will focus on enabling content to be personalised via interactive services user-generated and shared content and time shifting of content by digital video recorders. This is the world in which we live; we can of course access past programming via the internet. As I said the list is non-prescriptive because we believe that to a large extent clients and consumers are intelligent participants in the media world. 
The functions of TVNZ are to be a successful national television and digital media company. We already know that 90 percent of its revenue is generated through commercial sources. In terms of TVNZ carrying out its functions we are stating under clause 6 of the bill which substitutes a new section 12 that “TVNZ must provide high-quality content that—(a) is relevant to and enjoyed and valued by New Zealand audiences;”. These statements in themselves say that in terms of this amendment bill what is produced needs to be broadly relevant to New Zealanders. It needs to generate personal enjoyment for New Zealanders and also to be valued by New Zealanders; therefore it must be in the public interest. The content also “(b) encompasses both New Zealand and international content and reflects Maori perspectives. (3) TVNZ’s services must include the provision of channels that are free of charge and available to audiences throughout New Zealand.” 
Just as I close I tell the House that Kiwis now have a greatly expanded choice about what they view and when they view it. Our focus is on funding content with the public choosing how they prefer to watch it. I am happy to support this bill to the House.