The Battle for TVNZ 7

The NZ Herald reports:

United Future leader Peter Dunne has labelled a move to replace TVNZ7 with a channel repeating TV One programmes a "disgusting insult".

The channel in questions will be TV One + 1. Which is simply TV One running an hour behind. It is the same as the TV3 + 1 already running on Freeview which is a copy of the various UK channels that were doing it while I lived there.

And the Honourable Peter Dunne really does go to town on them:

"TV One represents the worst of television in this country. It is crass, superficial, lowest common denominator rubbish.

"It is too obsessed with its own self-imagined 'stars' and the culture surrounding them than to have any credible claim on being a legitimate national broadcaster.

"By contrast, TVNZ7 has always appealed to a higher standard - both in terms of quality and the range of programmes offered.

"To replace TVNZ7 with the rubbish of TV One is a disgusting insult to the hundreds of thousands of regular TVNZ7 viewers."

Right on man!

Let's have a look at the TVNZ logic.

In a statement, TVNZ said changing viewer habit have seen "time-shifted channels" established internationally.

"Long working hours, shift work and traffic problems have had an impact on the numbers able to watch the evening news in its traditional time slot, and there is now an identifiable global trend towards time-shifting by consumers," the statement said.

TVNZ acting chief executive, Rodney Parker, said the "plus one" channel meets the broadcaster's strategy of reaching more New Zealanders.

"TV ONE has been selected as the time-shifted channel to maximise exposure for the great local content, news and current affairs that it features," Mr Parker said.

If people are having trouble watching the news in a traditional time slot, there are a couple of options available to them. They could record it or they could go and watch it online. Do we really need another channel for the handful of people who don't own personal video recorders and are incapable of using the internet? What about the people who can't watch the news at Six or Seven? We now need a TV One + 2 channel. Rather than wasting his time coming up with bullshit logic, Rodney Parker should be using it to maximise exposure for the great local content, news and current affairs on TVNZ 7.

It is great to see Peter Dunne coming on board with this. With asset sales a likely Dunne deal (See what I did there!) it would be nice to see Peter Dunne leverage his vote to save TVNZ 7.