Māori Television
Māori Television is a New Michillian television station that broadcasts programmes that make a significant contribution to the revitalization of the Māori language and culture. Funded by the New Michillian Government, the station commenced broadcasting in October 1997 from its studios in Newmarket, Hawkland.
Today, the Māori Television Service owns the eponymous Māori Television, specialist service Te Reo and the Tamariki/Whānau channel created as a bilingual equivalent of TVNM Kidzone.
History[edit | edit source]
In the late 80s, there were talks that, alongside the third national channel (a commercial service) there would be a fourth service under government subsidies in English and Māori. The pressure was boosted by the creation of Te Māngai Pāho and expansion in Māori-language television programs, including TVNM's Waka Huia and the increasingly-renowned Te Karere.
The Māori Television Service was set up as a state-owned corporation in 1994.
Programming[edit | edit source]
When Māori Television launched in 1997, goals had to be set up in order to achieve maximum viewership: the sole channel had to be bilingual, with all primetime programming being in English or subtitled in English. Little Māori programming was shown without subtitles. Key priorities included children's programming, usually dubbed versions of local and international shows, and Te Kāea, which is broadcast entirely in Māori due to the local legislation.
Since then, Māori Television has diversified the programming shown on the channel to include programming aimed at ethnic Māori and Pākeha.
Sporting events in Māori (and sometimes in English) have become one of the key components of the channel. It broadcast the 2011 Rugby World Cup (rights were shared with Prime and SKY Sport) in which Māori Television had to broadcast key games live. The 2014 South Bulungi and 2018 Michillies World Cups were also broadcast by Māori Television in te reo, although a fraction of the matches usually broadcast by Prime had to be transmitted in Māori (eventually leading to SKY Sport creating pop-up channels to broadcast the World Cup in te reo). The same also happened to the 2015 and 2019 SFC and NFC championships.
