Maori Television moves south
Nine years of frozen funding drives broadcaster out of central Auckland to East Tamaki.
The Maori Television Service (MTS) has announced it is shifting its headquarters to a location in South Auckland’s East Tamaki.
The decision coincides with the looming expiration of its current lease in Newmarket, where the broadcaster has been housed since it launched in March 2004.
MTS is planning to move into the refurbished office building at 441 East Tamaki Rd and begin transmission of its news and current affairs shows in June next year.
The broadcaster’s chairwoman, Georgina te Heuheu, says the long-term lease for the South Auckland site “will enable the organisation to have a high degree of operating certainty while successfully meeting its future operational needs.”
“The board and management have taken the time to consider all of the factors carefully given that this is the biggest decision to date that Maori Television has had to make from an operational point of view,” Mrs te Heuheu said in a statement.
“There were many dynamics to consider.”
Those dynamics included financial cost, the ability to build a studio or convert existing space into one, the ability to retain and attract key talent, access to public transport and arterial routes, and proximity to Maori communities and facilities.
Cost almost certainly was the key consideration, however.
As chief executive Paora Maxwell observed to NBR last year, government funding for MTS – as with RNZ and New Zealand On Air – has “unfortunately remained static” since the start of the global financial crisis nine years ago, while the channel’s costs have continued to rise in line with inflation.
MTS’ Newmarket location has also been a target for complaint since the advent of the broadcaster, with many critics suggesting the central Auckland location was unnecessarily expensive.
Staff reporter
Fri, 14 Oct 2016
Fri, 14 Oct 2016
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Maori Television moves south
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