Ministers delay decision on TVNZ, RNZ merger until next year

Wednesday, 3 November 2021

The Government has delayed considering whether to merge TVNZ and RNZ into a new public media entity.

The idea of pooling the two state-owned broadcasters into a new entity was first made public in 2019 and Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi said in March that he expected to take a case to Cabinet in October.

But a spokesman for Faafoi said ministers would now consider the proposal “early next year”.

That decision was made in response to the Government’s need to “deal with Covid-related issues at the moment”, he said.

**READ MORE:

* Why the Government might want to merge TVNZ and RNZ

* RNZ, TVNZ merger will now get down to the 'nitty gritty', says minister

* RNZ warmer than TVNZ on merger in front of MPs

**

TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick announced in September that he intended to stand down in February.

TVNZ declined to comment in September on whether its board had given consideration to how the role and any contract with a new chief executive might be impacted by the deliberations over the new public media agency.

It would not comment then on whether it expected to delay any appointment until after the Government’s intentions became clear.

A spokeswoman said on Wednesday, in the wake of the Government’s merger decision delay, that it continued to have no comment on those matters.

National Party broadcasting spokeswoman Melissa Lee expected people at RNZ and TVNZ would be wanting a decision so they could move on.

Lee feared the delay would be likely to complicate the process of recruiting a successor for Kenrick.

“It just creates more uncertainty.”

She said in September that TVNZ would probably want to know “what the job is” it would be recruiting for – a new head of TVNZ or a new public media entity – before starting its recruitment process.

“Candidates would probably want to know that as well,” she said.