Stakeholders gather to discuss future of New Zealand pubcasting as government cuts funds

The survival of public television in New Zealand will be debated Wednesday (June 22) at a Victoria University forum for stakeholders from industry, parliament, the state sector and academia, reports news site Voxy.co.nz. Participants will identify policy options to sustain public television, discuss funding and structural alternatives, look at sustaining local content, and examine regulatory arrangements.The forum originated with an open letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Broadcasting in April, signed by 61 media academics from around New Zealand, who urged the government to reconsider the series of steps it has taken “to dismantle the little that is left of public broadcasting in our country” by ending government funding.