Changes in N.Z. Broadcasting

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 8, 4 September 1931, Page 4

Changes in N.Z. Broadcasting

were BBC AS FUTURE MODEL Modified State Control Adopted ACCORDING to a statement made by the Postmaster-General to the daily Press last week the Government has decided that at the expiration of the Radio Broadcasting Company’s contract, broadcasting will be placed under the control of an independent board. It is stated that Cabinet appointed a Committee consisting of the’ Hons. J. B. Donald, H. Atmore, A. J. Stallworthy, and A. J. Murdoch to go into the question, and this Committee considered the methods in vogue in other countries, and heard evidence from the directors of the present lessee company. It was unanimously decided ‘that the British Broadcasting Corporation was the model which could most readily be adapted to the needs of the Dominion, offering as it-did all the advantages of non-political direction with none of the disadvantages attaching to private monopoly of a public utility. Cabinet confirmed the decision of the Committee, and a Bill to give effect to it is now ready for presentation to Parliament. i The proposed board will be vested with the ownership of all stations and equipment, and with entire control of the technical and studio staffs. The Post and Telegraph Department, as at present, will collect license fees and allot wavelengths, etc. The intention is that the board shall consist of a chairman and four others, all appointed by the Government. State Ownership and Control WHEN the Government’s alternative scheme for the control of broadcasting in New Zealand was referred to Mr. A. R. Harris, general manager of the Radio Broadcasting Company, he remarked: "In effect the Government proposal means the purchase and nationalisation of the present broadcast service, and a further extension of State ownership in the field of ‘public service’," said Mr. Harris. "The personnel of the board to be appointed by the Government will have no monetary liability in the undertaking; once this is done, all incentive to efficiency is gone. Also, I understand, the intention is to place the board beyond political control, but it remains to be seen how this is to be done without jeopardising the public interest. Such a board, having no monetary obligations, would be subject to some form of political veto. It is not possible to dissociate Government ownership from Government control. "Tyo years and a half ago," said Mr. Harris, "the company expressed the opinion that additional radio coverage was required to provide an efficient broadcast service, and recommended to the Government a scheme of relay stations. The company offered to provide these, conditional on its license being extended for a period so that the company would have a reasonable chance of reimbursing itself for additional capital expenditure and operating expenses involved in the wider service. The period was for a total of five years, including the unexpired term under the existing legislation. The Government had no power to grant a longer period. Over two years of that period has now elapsed, and had the proposals been accepted, the additional services would have been well under way with less than three years to complete the whole scheme before the company’s: extended license expired. The obligations would have been contracted without liability of any kind to the State, As it is, the extensions that are so vitally required are still uninitiated. Under the proposed board there would be no contractual obligations or any guarantee of continuity of any one policy. "This is what actually happened in Great Britain and Australia," said Mr. Harris. "In one case a plan for regional stations was proposed, anil in the other a system of relay stations. In neither case have they been carried out to schedule. There is no doubt that contractual obligations under private enterprise with adequate safeguards to the public is the only sound method for progressive, efficient development. "The company’s figures also show, particularly in the first few years of operation, that had it not adhered to a rigid policy a big deficit would have been carried forward, and as it was losses were made. Only in the last year has it been able to place the service on a sound financial footing.",