Backlash Over Deluge Of Cheap Kiwi Tv
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 18, 2009
AUSTRALIAN film and television's industry body will call on the Federal Government to overhaul local content rules as an unprecedented number of New Zealand-made programs flood our television screens.
Under the current regulations, New Zealand-made shows are counted towards the networks' Australian content quota requirement, which obliges broadcasters to devote at least 55 per cent of their programming to locally made shows.Screen Producers Association of Australia executive director Geoff Brown said budget-conscious networks were taking advantage of the arrangement under the Australia NZ Closer Economic Relations Agreement to run cheap NZ imports in preference to expensive Australian-made programs.He said the networks regarded Australian content as a liability. "They are trying to reduce their costs and maintain their quotas by screening this material from New Zealand."Remember, for every hour of New Zealand programming going to air, that's an hour of Australian programming that doesn't get up. They are treating Australian viewers as second-rate citizens," he said.NZ-made programs increased significantly over the summer non-ratings period, with Seven screening observational series Wild Vets and Coastwatch and Ten airing the drama Orange Roughies. Channel Nine has enjoyed ratings success with factual series Police Ten 7.Jane Wrightson, the chief executive of New Zealand's main television and radio funding body, New Zealand On Air, said it was time Kiwi-produced programs made a splash here."We have screened a huge number of Australian television shows here over the years and they have been very much enjoyed," she said. "It's great to see New Zealand programs achieving the same sort of profile over there as Australian programs have here."More than 800,000 watched Wild Vets and Coastwatch on Seven on Tuesday night, while Nine's Police Ten 7 has drawn up to a million viewers.However, Mr Brown said it was "a joke" to treat NZ content in the same way as Australian content."You cannot tell me that screening Orange Roughies at 10.30 on a Friday night is fulfilling the Australian drama content quota in the same way as a first-run, Australian-made drama."Lobbyists will meet Government representatives in Canberra next month to discuss an overhaul of regulations, decided after a controversial High Court ruling in 1999.The New Zealand invasion- Wild Vets- Coastwatch- Orange Roughies- Police Ten 7- The Zoo- Outrageous Fortune- Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby- Bro' Town- SCU: Serious Crash Unit
© 2009 The Sunday Age
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