TVNZ planning to launch paid, ad-free on-demand service

Monday, 10 May 2021

Kevin Kenrick has given TVNZ’s board plenty of notice of his departure – more in fact than it may be able to use.

TVNZ has confirmed it intends to launch a paid, ad-free on-demand television service, possibly as early as later this year.

Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi declined to say whether he saw any obstacles.

The state-owned broadcaster has discussed launching a paid subscription service since 2014, but the company went further on Monday in indicating that was a firm plan.

Chief executive Kevin Kenrick made clear in 2018 that a paid service would be in addition to its advertising-funded OnDemand service, rather than a replacement for it.

Spokeswoman Kirsty Way said it had informed the Government of its intentions.

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Plans for the biggest shift in the history of New Zealand public broadcasting are being mulled over by a group of media experts.

But neither TVNZ nor Faafoi would say whether TVNZ needed or had received the Government’s approval.

“We’d look for any red flags that are raised and address them at that time,” Way said.

Faafoi said TVNZ was required to make its content available to all New Zealanders and that would not change.

Way said TVNZ would complete a new, “far superior” version of its OnDemand technology platform later this year that would allow for a paid service.

But the redevelopment also had other goals and it was not necessarily the case that a paid, ad-free service would be introduced at the same time that the new platform went live, she said.

“It may be technically possible this year but no decision has been made.”

Way could not comment on what programming might be available on subscription, including whether it might involve new types of programming.

“No decisions on that level of detail have been made,” she said.

“The technical development is underway [but] it is important to bear in mind that at this point in time there is no proposed product or launch date for a subscription.”

As such there was nothing to propose to the Government, she said.

Way said any push-back from the public would need to be careful considered “as and when” TVNZ had a fixed idea on what was going to launch.

“But we are not at that point at this time,” she said.

TVNZ provided the update on its plans ahead of a long-awaited decision by the Government – expected towards the end of this year – on whether to merge TVNZ and RNZ into a new public media entity.

Faafoi has made clear that if the merger goes ahead, the new entity would receive both commercial and public funding.