Triangle TV Pulls Plug On Wellington Transmission
Triangle Television restructures for future
Triangle Television is pulling the plug on its Wellington transmission from March 31.
Jim Blackman, founder and
chief executive of the free-to-air Triangle Television and
nationwide channel TriangleStratos Television, says Triangle
is not immune to the same economic realities that other TV
stations and media are experiencing.
“In fact we
have less padding to survive the downturn because unlike
other TV services, like the state owned broadcaster, we have
to rely on funding from the communities and we receive
little from New Zealand on Air,” he says.
Local
programming support, funding levels, sponsorship and
commercial uptake of the Wellington service has been far
lower than hoped for. The Wellington service has also had
ongoing transmission problems, which has affected signal
strength and viewership in some areas.
“As we do not
see this situation improving in the short to medium term our
must focus on those areas of our activity which are more
viable,” Mr Blackman says. “The good news is that
Wellington viewers and producers will still have the option
to see the majority of Triangle programming via
TriangleStratos, which is available on Sky and Freeview
satellite services and Telstra Clear cable. We will also
still accept locally made programming from Wellington to
broadcast on those platforms.”
Triangle Stratos is
available on Freeview Channel 21 and Sky Channel 89. It is
also on TelstraClear cable on Channel 89.
Mr Blackman
says although the Wellington decision was necessary, overall
Triangle and TriangleStratos have been gaining market share
as their reputation for offering an alternate voice to New
Zealanders on news from around the world spreads. 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.
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