Manatū Taonga | Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH) has released a Discussion Document seeking feedback on five new proposals that focus on modernising outdated media regulation and aim to increase investment in local content and equitable media access, and which draws inspiration from similar recent changes in the UK, Canada and Australia.
Submissions on the Discussion Document are open until 11.59 pm, Sunday 23 March 2025.
Proposals
- 'Must carry' requirements for local TV services: 'Regulated TV devices' (such as smart TVs and smart TV accessories) will need to have 'local TV services' providing free access to content (such as TVNZ+, ThreeNow and Māori+) pre-installed and positioned with 'basic prominence' on the home screen. At the moment, this proposal covers free TV only, and doesn't extend to paid services or audio only (eg radio).
- Local content investment and discoverability obligations: TV broadcasters and streaming platforms would be required to invest a proportion of annual revenue in the creation or acquisition of local content, including content that captures New Zealand stories, places, voices and faces. These platforms will also be required to promote and clearly display local content.
- Increasing captioning and audio description (CAD): The third proposal is to set progressive targets for levels of CAD, to support access to media content for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, low vision, or otherwise cannot or would prefer not to engage with sound or visual content.
- Broadcasting standards regime to cover all professional media in New Zealand: The current Broadcasting Act 1980 would be revised to cover all professional media in New Zealand, as opposed only linear TV and radio, to increase the consistency and durability of regulation. Note that the Films, Videos, and Publications Classifications Act 1993 is not covered by this proposal, meaning that current overlaps (eg in classification and rating of content) between the two pieces of legislation will not be revisited by this proposal.
- Consolidating the New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air: A single content funding entity would be established, to distribute funding, support industry development, support funded content to reach audiences and markets, and administer the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate and the Game Development Sector Rebate. No changes to overall funding levels have been announced.
Other media reforms
As industry will be well aware, this is not the first time that changes have been proposed to the industry over the past few years. Some of the proposals in this Discussion Document revive reforms that have been raised by previous Governments and abandoned. Other areas of ongoing reform are also continuing in parallel, including:
- The Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill
- Te Puni Kōkiri's review of Māori language entities, including Te Māngai Pāho
- The Broadcasting (Repeal of Advertising Restrictions) Amendment Bill which will, if passed, remove advertising restrictions on Sunday mornings and certain public holidays.
Reminder to submit
It's not too late to submit on the proposals, as submissions are open until 11.59 pm, Sunday 23 March 2025.
This article was co-authored by Keri Johansson (partner) and Katrina Dickins (solicitor).
