Te Puutaatara
Te Puutaatara is a weekly three-hour talk-back programme in English, with host Jim Perry.
Regional TV will miss out on digital switch over
Tuesday 9 March 2010
The station manager of Gisborne's Maori-focused television station says a lot of regional stations will miss out on the switch over to digital TV.
East Coast TV's Tena Baker says the free-to-air analogue station holds an advantage over mainstream TV by re-broadcasting popular Tairawhiti events like kapahaka and sports.
But she says the station will miss out on the country's switch over to a digital transmission and the only option is to go to satellite which is too expensive.
"I suppose that's somewhere where we need to appeal to our iwi our hapu. And also the Government has a responsibility ensuring that te reo me nga tikanga a pathway and it needs to be in broadcasting and on radio."
Ms Baker says there's an interest by iwi to run their own TV stations, and East Coast Television has been in serious discussions with interested iwi including Rongowhakaata.
She says other digital switch over issues for regional television include the allocation of spectrum.
The concern is that there's only so much to go around, and with big players like Sky TV who already have a major chunk of the spectrum, it leaves very little for regional television.
"Even for radio, whether that's iwi or mainstream radio."
"An educated iwi is an empowered iwi, an empowered iwi is a comfortable iwi. A comfortable iwi is a confident iwi"
Jim Perry (Ngati Porou) endeavours to assist with education for us all. Te Puutaatara, signalling it's time for te iwi Maori to become empowered, it encapsulates the major issues of the day and how they affect Maori.
Our veteran broadcaster has been on Maori radio for over fifteen years, with a background in mainstream and kura kaupapa education.
Contact
Producer: Huk Jackson
09 275 9070 | 0800 4 603 603
huk@waatea603am.co.nz