• Local content programming on New Zealand television
• Māori language speakers
• Language retention

Local content programming on New Zealand television

Relevance

Television is the dominant cultural medium for most New Zealanders. The 1998/1999 Time Use Survey indicated that New Zealanders spend almost two hours per day watching television or videos.⁷⁰ Ninety-eight percent of New Zealand households have at least one television set.⁷¹ For many people, television is a major source of news, information and entertainment and strongly influences their sense of local and national identity. A local content measure reflects the extent to which we see our culture reflected through this medium.

Current level and trends

In 2004, local content on the three main television channels comprised 42 percent of the prime-time schedule, the same level that was reported in 2003. The proportion of local content rose from 24 percent in 1988 to a peak of 42 percent in 1994, before dropping to 35 percent in 1995.

The percentage of local content in prime-time transmission hours differs across the three main channels: TV One: 59 percent (60 percent in 2003), TV2: 30 percent (25 percent in 2003), and TV3: 39 percent (41 percent in 2003).

Figure Cl1.1 Proportion of local content on prime-time television, 1988–2004

Source: NZ On Air (2005)
Note: These figures are for prime-time (6pm–10pm) local content on TV One, TV2 and TV3 only

Since 1988, other free-to-air broadcasters (including Prime, a number of regional channels and the Māori Television Service) as well as pay-television channels, Sky (satellite) and Saturn (cable), have joined the three national television channels.

Three programme types accounted for two-thirds of the local content hours in 2004: news and current affairs (34 percent), information programmes (17 percent), and sports (14 percent). The hours of children's content fell by 21 percent and information programmes by 13 percent between 2003 and 2004. Over the same period the hours of documentaries rose by 17 percent.

Table CI1.1 Percentage share of total hours local content by programme type, selected years, 1988–2004

Source: NZ On Air (2000) Appendix 3, p29; NZ On Air (2005) Figure 2, p8
Note: Information on types of local programmes in prime-time hours is not published. These figures relate to a 24-hour period up to 2002. From 2003 onwards, figures relate to 18 hours (6am to midnight)

International comparison

International comparisons are difficult due to inconsistencies in measurement approaches by different countries. In 1999, local content accounted for 24 percent of total transmission time in surveyed countries, and New Zealand had the smallest proportion of local content. This was compared to the United States (90 percent), the United Kingdom (BBC only, 78 percent), Canada (60 percent), Norway (56 percent), Finland (55 percent), Australia (which mandates a local content transmission quota of 55 percent on all free-to-air commercial networks) and Ireland (RTE only, 41 percent).⁷² Note that this is a measure of total air-time programming, rather than prime-time programming, which is the measure the indicator in this report is based on.