MEDIAWATCH: I told you BSA vs Sean Plunkett was about revenue
Cough, I told you the BSA vs Sean Plunkett fiasco was about revenue…
Levies expected to decrease
The Broadcasting Standards Authority has pointed to challenges in the traditional media landscape as being behind its expectation for revenue from broadcasting levies to follow a downward trajectory.
The select committee paper noted an increasingly financially challenged media sector since the agency’s establishment in 1989. It added many traditional broadcasters had closed, and the BSA told the committee, “in the long term, it expects revenue from broadcasting levies to decrease further”.
“However, the BSA warned that eventually, spending conservatively will not maintain its operations,” the report added.
The agency has reiterated to Members of Parliament its focus on disciplined spending, with the report adding its focus is on “spending conservatively” as well as working with a limited mandate.
In a statement, the BSA pointed out that as broadcasters continue to pursue “digital-first” strategies, levy revenue will continue to decline in the coming years.
Despite the negative outlook, the BSA’ s statement of prospective financial performance for the year ending June 30, 2026 saw its estimated actual levy revenue higher than budgeted amounts.
It had budgeted for $600,000 of revenue relating to the broadcasting levy, but had an estimated actual revenue of $713,750 for 2024/25.
NZ Herald
…I told you this was the motivation!
Watching Sean Plunkett fight the BSA is like a death cage match between the Nazis + Daleks – you’re not sure who to cheer for.
This insanity is garbage for 3 reasons.
The first is the nonsense reason he’s being pulled up. The claim is he called Tikanga mumbo jumbo.
FFS, this is the least terrible shit he has said!
Plunkett is a radioactive hate grifter who has in the past attempted to claim images of starving Gazans were faked, has claimed Māui dolphins were “the Down syndrome kids of marine mammals” that “deserved to die”, has asked if anyone felt sorry for Harvey Weinstein and infamously claimed he was concerned about a mass outbreak of anorexia in Gaza.
And let’s not forget these great moments:
On 12 April 2023, Plunket claimed on The Platform that former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had been hiding her new speaking engagement from the public. After Ardern and The Spinoff confirmed the speaking engagement story was false, Plunket apologised and removed references to the fake Ardern ad from his and The Platform’s social media. He also encouraged his followers to delete any mentions of it as well.[37]
In September 2023, Plunket claimed on The Platform that there were rumors that the media company Stuff had received financial support from the Māori iwi (tribe) Ngāi Tahu, which he claimed contributed to Stuff’s alleged embrace of wokenessand critical race theory. Plunket’s claims were disputed by Stuff’s owner Sinead Boucher, who stated that the company did not have a financial relationship with Ngāi Tahu and suggested that the rumors were motivated by misogyny.[38]
Pinging Sean on calling Tikanga, ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ is like arresting Pol Pot for jaywalking.
The second reason this is garbage is the insane overreach by the woke coven of the BSA itself.
The BSA are a group of noddy do-gooders who are picking the weakest bullshit to try and pull Sean up on.
Sean described Māori Tikanga as ‘mumbo jumbo’ which is the sort of dumb thing your drunk uncle who listens to Reality Check Radio says when half pissed at Christmas lunch because he’s banned from Christmas Dinner.
It’s a waste of time complaint made by woke micro aggression policing vegans who believe all heteronormative sex is rape.
The biggest reason this is garbage is because the whole thing is not about protecting anyone from Sean’s ‘free speech’, it’s about finding new funding for the BSA!
Freeview is about to be killed, when that happens, what the hell will the BSA rule over?
Radio frequencies and Sky?
The BSA get part of their revenue from the Broadcasters paying licences, if Freeview goes, that’s a lot of revenue the BSA won’t have.
Redefining transmission allows the BSA to take over online broadcasting, and the only question from their point of view now how do you levy that online broadcast?
One argument will be based on revenue, another argument will be on how many are viewing the content.
This has sweet fuck all to do with ‘broadcasting standards’ and everything to do with finding a new revenue stream once Freeview is switched off.
