Ralston on TVNZ vs Sky

An insightful column by Bill Ralston on the challenges ahead of TVNZ:

TVNZ would like to set a high price on its rebroadcast rights and is desperately lobbying Parliament to let it do that.

The problem is, viewers may well be the losers. If TVNZ succeeds and sets an extortionate price on its channels, Sky may drop them. That could be good news for Freeview because many of us might then buy a box so as to still get TVNZ.

In fact, TVNZ might deliberately put a huge price on its channels so as to deny Sky its signal, thinking that this will hurt its rival and boost its Freeview system.

The trouble is, many of us may not rush off to Freeview as a result.

We might stay with Sky and decide to be TVNZ-free. How often do you hear the complaint that there is not a lot to watch on TV One or TV2 any more?

Sky’s war chest is such that it could buy the “first run” rights to popular international shows, dramatically increasing its pull on TVNZ audiences and leaving the state broadcaster with the dregs of foreign programmes.

If this is handled badly we could end up with two parallel digital platforms, each running its own exclusive channels, with the audience roughly evenly divided between the two.

Does TVNZ really want to halve its audience? And do viewers really want only half of what is out there?

If Sky drops TVNZ, I doubt I would be getting Freeview. I am now quite reliant on My Sky to record my programmes so I can watch them when I have the time.  If I can’t record it on My Sky, then I don’t see it.