For immediate release

10 May 2012

Save TVNZ 7 Public Meetings Announced As The Online Petition Pushes 20,000

The Save TVNZ 7 campaign today announced a series of public meetings around the country which ask: Is Public Service Television Important in NZ?

“Obviously it’s a rhetorical question, but an important one.” Says Myles Thomas, of Save TVNZ 7. “Our only public service TV channel is about to close leaving us with what? TV One + 1 and a lost opportunity.”

“Public Service TV is just taking off with 1.4 million Kiwis watching it each month* and it’s climbing” said Myles Thomas of the Save TVNZ 7 group “Any TV channel takes time to get started and in four short years TVNZ 7 has built a passionate and enthusiastic audience without promotions or listings - just old fashioned word-of-mouth because the programmes are so brilliant. And like the success of public service radio, TVNZ 7 is proving Kiwis want quality TV that is about life in New Zealand and isn’t about amassing the largest audience possible to attract advertisers. Sadly all the TVNZ 7 programmes are going to disappear at the end of June when Government funding for the channel stops.”

Public Meeting in Auckland to be chaired by Brian Edwards
The first Save TVNZ 7 meeting is in Auckland - May 15, 7-9pm, Freemans Bay Community Centre - The panel of speakers from political parties and experts will be moderated by Brian Edwards. The audience will be asking questions too and it promises to be standing room only in the large hall so get there early.

Details: Free entry, tea and coffee available, entry on Hepburn Street Ponsonby

Other meetings are happening in Wellington on May 21, Nelson on May 25, Christchurch on May 28, and Palmerston North, Dunedin and Hamilton in June. More details to come in a few days.

The Save TVNZ 7 Online Petition
Only a couple of weeks after the petition smashed through 10,000 online ‘signatures’ we’re about to reach 20,000. The response has been incredible and it just shows that as the deadline looms, more and more of the 1.4 million Kiwis who watch TVNZ 7 each month, are realising what they’ll be missing come July when lack of government funding closes NZ’s only public service TV channel.

Clare Curran’s Private Member’s Bill to Save TVNZ 7
Save TVNZ 7 eagerly anticipates the announcement of Clare Curran’s proposed legislation that will enshrine public service TV for the good of all New Zealanders. We endorse the efforts Clare Curran and Peter Dunne have made to ask the government and TVNZ to reverse the decision to close TVNZ 7.

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Note: Save TVNZ 7 has thousands of members from across the political spectrum, and is not affiliated with any party or other interest group. The website and online petition is at www.savetvnz7.co.nz
* Quoted from Nielson Research supplied by TVNZ

Background info for those who can be bothered digging…

TVNZ’s annual report [http://tvnz.co.nz/content/845012 page 17] contains fascinating independent research that shows:
• 70% of Kiwis want programmes that are educational for young people yet only 34% believe TVNZ is doing that well
• 85% of Kiwis want high quality programmes but only 45% believe TVNZ is doing that well
• Cultural diversity on TVNZ is very important to roughly half the population but two-thirds say that TVNZ could do better
• Three quarters of respondents note that TVNZ fails to properly deal with minority interests

“Many New Zealanders recognise closing down TVNZ 7 next year will be a tragedy for viewers. We already have the world’s most commercial television broadcasting and that’s only getting worse with our last non-commercial channel about to disappear” - Myles Thomas, Save TVNZ 7.

A recent report to Canada Broadcasting Corporation shows NZ public broadcasting has extremely high levels of commercialisation compared to other countries - www.cbc.radio-canada.ca/about/Analysis_Public_Broadcasting.pdf

Click for big version.

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