TVNZ chief faces future dilemma

Kevin Kenrick leads the broadcaster that pulls in the biggest audiences in the country and the most money from advertising. But TVNZ - like state-owned RNZ - will be folded into a new public media outfit which will still depend on TV ad income under the plan favoured by the government. How’s he planning for that?

When the current coalition government took over in 2017, it was Labour’s broadcasting policy that was adopted. 

That called for a big boost to the funding of RNZ in the order of $38 million a year, much of it earmarked for a new ad-free TV channel.

The TV broadcaster already owned by the state - TVNZ - was shut out of the plan. 

"To turn it into a public broadcaster would have been difficult culturally and resulted in battles and a lack of value for the taxpayer," said the minister back then, Clare Curran. 

TVNZ’s Chief executive Kevin Kenrick was no fan of that plan. 

"I don't think we need more channels. It makes no sense to duplicate existing capacity,"  he said at the time.

But that policy was scrapped last year and Curran’s successor Kris Faafoi confirmed last week the government now wants to replace both RNZ and TVNZ with a new, single public broadcaster by 2023. 

While several organisations rushed out statements last week praising the minister’s plan to  “strengthen public media,” Kenrick instead wrote to his advertisers. 

“You will not be surprised to hear that TVNZ fully supports the critical role of advertising in building brands and driving sales of products and services,” he told them. 

“You can be assured that we will continue to proactively champion the need for New Zealand businesses to reach large relevant audiences as an integral part of any future public media plans,” he added.

The same day, broadcasting minister and just-released cabinet papers released both made it clear that TVNZ’s ad revenue would be a critical component of the the new company. 

“The current costs of operating TVNZ, RNZ and NZ On Air are approximately $450 million. Crown funding accounts for approximately $150 million of this amount.” 

The other $300 million is roughly the revenue TVNZ brings in with ads each year. 

Last Thursday, just days after the minister of Broadcasting confirmed that both broadcasters were under review, RNZ and TVNZ top brass were at Parliament for their annual reviews. 

While the RNZ Concert drama and its plans for music dominated RNZ’s session, the role TVNZ would play in the transition to a new broadcaster was a big topic for TVNZ’s review.  

"To me it's a bit like the rebuild of Christchurch, you know? How often do you get an opportunity to design from scratch?" he told Newshub at 6pm that night.

That’s a stark description of the status quo - though probably unintentional. 

In his note to advertisers last week Kenrick also pointed out there’s an election this year soon after cabinet makes a final decision on this. (National has already said it doesn't support the single broadcaster plan). 

Can he really be committed to a new public project when his advertisers come first?

"The thing that had been missing in the conversation is: what’s the benefit to New Zealand businesses?

"All the focus was on the people who were going to consume the content but for TVNZ the businesses that advertise are critical stakeholders. Why can’t you have both?"

"I think it would be crazy if it got to the point where ... New Zealand’s businesses didn’t have access to TV advertising to build and grow their businesses That's a world first I wouldn’t be that proud of,“ he told Mediawatch.

So does Kenrick reckon the government plan will actually happen? 

“The status quo least likely option. Something will happen even if it's not this."

But if government gives a green light new public media company in July, TVNZ could cease to exist within three years. 

Does that make him a turkey voting for Christmas?

Kendrick told the Parliamentary committee the new plan was nothing to be afraid of indeed it was something to be excited about.

“We welcome the opportunity to contribute and be a part of it unlike the last (plan)," he said

"Local media is going to struggle to compete with the big global players without banding together in some shape or form to get more scale and whether that some commercially or through what the Crown does with its own media assets.

"We think it’s encouraging the minister has a willingness and appetite to have a go at what’s the tough challenge." 

He said TVNZ had not yet had a letter of expectation from the government about what it was expected to do in the transition to a new public media entity.

He is currently the longest serving broadcast boss in New Zealand.

Does Kenrick want to lead the new public entity? 

“I don’t think tenure has anything to do with it. It’s not my call," he said

TVNZ’s ability to pull in hefty sums in advertising income is a crucial part of the government plan.

“Don’t think about TVNZ and taking it into the future. Think about if you were designing a future focused public media entity what would it look like?

“Then you can draw from TVNZ on RNZ what are the great parts of those entities.

"I spent some time last year visiting a number of players to see what we could learn from them and the one thing that was true for all was that they all felt their model was sub-optimal.

"RTE has a dual funding mandate in Ireland, SBS (has one) in Australia, but none of these are the ideal.

"Let’s look at countries that are not to do similar to us and have a similar population I would tend to look like places like Ireland and the Nordic countries and see what we can learn from those."