Hard News: The digital switch-off
223 Responses
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
“What are you wearing under that?”
A question one should not ask unless one is prepared to be given an honest answer, I suspect.
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Steve Barnes, in reply to
A question one should not ask unless one is prepared to be given an honest answer, I suspect.
So, you could ask a National MP then.
;-) -
Matthew Poole, in reply to
A question one should not ask unless one is prepared to be given an honest answer, I suspect.
So, you could ask a National MP then.
I'll ask Collins if you ask Brownlee. Deal?
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
A question one should not ask unless one is prepared to be given an honest answer, I suspect.
So, you could ask a National MP then.
;-)National MP - that's a question for caucus.
Labour MP - I'm wearing what Phil is wearing
Act MP - yellow
Maori MP - I'm wearing what my ancestors wore
Green MP - I'm recycling -
giovanni tiso, in reply to
Green MP - I'm recycling
Reusing, surely.
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I think Brownlee would be too busy blowing on his piety to answer that and Judith just doesn't answer. I still have had no answer to the eMail I sent asking
"Dear Ms Collins.
Could you, as a Minister please explain what was meant by "with a cellmate" ?
Am I to assume that you do not wish them to get lonely or are you suggesting something less humane?.
Yrs,
Steve Barnes. ":-|
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
Even though Mediaworks' problem is basically that it was acquired by a greedy, stupid private equity firm.
But it would be nice to see the government treat public broadcasting assets as kindly as it treats the private ones.
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Sacha, in reply to
I'm curious what MW's interest rate would be if it'd borrowed from commercial funders.
Up to their eyeballs with all that leveraged equity bizzo so no one will lend them any more money at viable rates if at all, I'd guess.
These licence payments were a long-forecast core cost of doing business that a prudent company would have set money aside for. They're a regulatory obligation, not a discretionary expense.
The analogy is more like the Ministry of Transport giving you more time to pay your van registration and lending you the money to pay them with. Or you owing rates and the Council deciding to let you take longer to pay them because you're a particular kind of ratepayer, say a retailer.
It's still a credit facility for private business that would not normally be provided by government.
I'd like to see someone ask which other industries have had similar government assistance to help them through difficult times (except finance companies that we already know about). What's special about commercial broadcasters?
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Don Robertson, in reply to
Tax cut?
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Sacha, in reply to
What's special about commercial broadcasters?
TV1 News has a rather revealing comment from Joyce at about the 30s mark of this 2m clip:
"Tipping the whole radio industry up, or half the radio industry up, to somehow guarantee payments and throwing a whole bunch of people out of work. Well then the media would be roaring at our door saying well hang on, why aren't you giving these guys a little bit of time to pay the bill."
I guess you could take that as meaning the media might complain loudly to the public (heaven forbid) about being expected to pay their bills - or that Joyce wants his industry buddies to still like him. Either way, doesn't sound remotely like prudent or impartial decision-making. Just look at the facial expressions on the guy.
Still some answers to be demanded. And challenging of any further slipperiness like pretending that the "guys" not paying their bills and any media outfits complaining would be different parties. Can you seriously imagine TV1 roaring at the government's door over the injustice of TV3 being expected to pay their license fees on time? Or The Radio Network raging about MediaWorks Radio having to pony up. Puhleese.
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Che Tibby, in reply to
I still have had no answer to the eMail I sent asking
nice work. mine asked, "if ur planning to legislate to use rape as a method throughout corrections, will it only apply to men, or are women to be included?
likewise, as yet no answer.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
likewise, as yet no answer.
Me neither. When I mentioned this after a lengthy conversation t'other night with a friend of a friend, she mentioned she only ever voted for National and abruptly left her seat and the conversation, at which point I realised I was surrounded by those types and suddenly felt very alone, but god it felt good to have the moral high ground. :)
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
I still have had no answer to the eMail I sent asking
nice work. mine asked, “if ur planning to legislate to use rape as a method throughout corrections, will it only apply to men, or are women to be included?
likewise, as yet no answer.
The Minister has 20 working days to respond, though an email such as the latter might be deemed to be “opinion” and disregarded.
Mine offered her four possible explanations and courses of action – misquoted (when’s Granny going to retract?), intends to make double-bunking a sentencing guideline (when?), didn’t think through the “official endorsement” angle on rape (when’s the retraction?), or stands by her original statement (heaven help her when I feed the confirmation to the media) – and I definitely expect an answer. If I don’t get one, I will be going to the Ombudsmen.
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Mediaworks owners Ironbridge respond to Herald story.
The facts are as follows: In mid 2009, the radio industry negotiated a lease renewal for the spectrum used for broadcasting radio signals in NZ. Unlike the previous 20 year lease, the Government initially requested full payment upon the lease commencement in October 2010.
With the sharp downturn in business in 2009 and 2010, it became clear to all members of the industry that meeting the payment date of October 2010 was going to be difficult, and so the Radio Broadcasters Association commenced negotiations with the Government to create a deferred payment plan. The outcome was agreement for a 5 year payment schedule with the deferred component accruing interest at 11.2%. This was offered to all radio broadcasters and several, including MediaWorks, took up the option.
For the record, TRN a major player in the radio industry and a member of the APN, Group (owner of the Herald) was extended exactly the same offer from the Government. We note that the deferred payment scheme was publicly announced in October 2009.
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Letter to the Editor in Granny, from the head of the Radio Broadcasters Association, says that the "drip-feed" option has long existed, and that the new option is available to all radio broadcasters after negotiations with the Ministry and Minister.
So no great conspiracy, just Granny playing tabloid instead of broadsheet.
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Sacha, in reply to
the "drip-feed" option has long existed
Where "long" means October 2009?
Actually, scrub that - the Ironbridge letter above implies that part-payments were available for the previous 20 year license term.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
Yes, the LttE said over 20 years.
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As to the Mediaworks malaise, have the usual suspects ever considered that the TV and radio market are glutted for a market as small as NZ? Thanks in no small part to the frequencies being sold off too cheaply.
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nzlemming, in reply to
What are you saying, man? That the market doesn't work? Such heresy!! Burn him!!
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And the plot thickens. Do as Prostetnic Vogon Joyce says, not as he does.
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Joyce's office reacted hard and fast to an article in Wednesday's Herald with a note threatening a Press Council complaint if the article was not corrected to his specifications. The Herald is standing by the story.
He's just another bully. I don't have a lot of time for the Herald, but I hope they nail him.
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The last rites are to be administered. R.I.P., NZ public broadcasting.
"And the Ministry had not only to supply the multifarious needs of the party, but also to repeat the whole operation at a lower level for the benefit of the proletariat. There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music, drama, and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator. There was even a whole sub-section—Pornosec, it was called in Newspeak—engaged in producing the lowest kind of pornography, which was sent out in sealed packets and which no Party member, other than those who worked on it, was permitted to look at."
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And reflecting on the TVNZ Kidzone 24 & Heartland channels – decent channels but only available on SKY and not Freeview – this is no PPP. It’s outright boot-licking at best and cronyism at worst. SKY is basically a Telecom with pictures. Or a law firm with satellite dishes. Berlusconi would be proud.
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