On Monday afternoon, the Screen Directors Guild (SDGNZ) convened a forum on the TVNZ Amendment Bill and what it might mean for the local industry. Despite the wine and nibbles afterwards, it was not an especially cheery afternoon.
Outlining the ground the forum would cover, SDGNZ’s Anna Cahill and the Documentary Channel’s Richard Driver introduced the general aims of the Bill – to remove the Charter obligations from TVNZ; to allow access to the TVNZ Archive (defined as “a programme made by or on behalf of the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand or its predecessors on or at any time before 27 May 1989 and held in the TVNZ Archive”); and, by implication, to position the company to operate with more or less the same obligations as any other free-to-air broadcaster in the local market; or, to allow it to function with a more commercial remit.
