March 06, 2019
Studio move drains MTS coffers
Māori Television has challenged politicians to up its investment in an organisation committed to upholding te reo and tikanga.
Māori Television chair Jamie Tuuta faced a grilling from the Māori affairs select committee yesterday, with National MP Nuk Korako honing in on a reduction in cash reserves from $9.6 million in 2016 to $1.5m in the last financial year.
Mr Jamie Tuuta says that was a consequence of moving premises from Newmarket to East Tāmaki.
It meant almost $12 million was spent on capital works in 2017, compared with just $414,000 last year.
Despite its remote location the rent is greater per square metre than Newmarket, and last year cost $880,000.
Mr Tuuta says the network has not had an increase in production funding since 2004, despite the need to keep up with a growing multi-media environment.
It is still attracting large audiences, with nearly 600,000 viewers across all of its a platforms a week.
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