An absolute rash of advertising largesse, reminiscent of cash-splashing extravagance not seen since the late 1980s when long lunches ran until breakfast the next day, has catapulted networks’ balance sheets to the point where they can now say, “This programme was made without NZ On Air because we’re so rich.” Or not.
The truth is, sadly, a little less exciting and munificent. After a few months of diplomacy (that process where two parties wear fixed smiles and repeat their irreconcilable positions ad infinitum across a table the width of Cook Strait) peace has broken out with a solution that gives everybody a bit of face and nobody exactly what they hoped for.
