Daryl Clarkson
Dunedin regional television station Channel 9 has begun
talks with state-owned transmission company Kordia, to consider
the digital switchover for local TV.
Channel 9 station manager Daryl Clarkson said negotiations
were taking place, but given they involve "commercial
decisions" he was unable to comment on any specifics
regarding the switch to digital.
"There are a number of options we are discussing at the
moment," he said.
Channel 9 is a subsidiary operation of Allied Press Ltd,
which also owns the Otago Daily Times.
Regional channels have been identified by public-service
television campaigners as the "next victims" of the
Government's increasingly commercially focused broadcasting
policy, The New Zealand Herald has reported.
Extra transmission charges, due when local TV goes digital,
may force some regional channels off-air, campaigners say.
The Government is refusing to back public television beyond
Maori TV and New Zealand On Air. Meanwhile, privately owned
stations such as Auckland-based national channel Stratos have
decided to discontinue, as commercial factors and charges
related to Kordia's transmission costs hit home.
Cue TV owner Tom Conroy said a move to digital in 2003 meant
the Invercargill-based television station went from a
regional to a national platform.
"We wanted to future-proof for exactly this situation. It was
a good move and increased our market," he said.
The technical changeover from analogue to digital had been a
"costly exercise" and still was, given the station now
broadcasts to a national platform on Sky Digital and
Freeview.
Mr Conroy said the cost of the "substantial investment" was
confidential, but Cue TV had a good business model to sustain
the ongoing advances needed with the shift from analogue to
digital.
"It's not cheap and there are a number of smaller regional
stations which have that to consider," he said.
The West Coast is one of the first regions to switch to
digital transmission, and the rest of the South Island will
do so from April 28 next year.
- matthew.haggart@odt.co.nz
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