Shorts newsletter - 25 February

NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho and are joining forces once again with a supplementary co-fund round for receptive Māori language content (20-70% Te Reo Māori).

The recent co-fund round saw some strong projects supported, with six of the nine selected being Scripted productions. For this round we are focusing on quality Factual content intended to appeal to a broad audience.

Both new and returning series are eligible, however in an effort to encourage fresh content, any series beyond a third season will be ineligible for this RFP.

Given the number of Scripted projects funded in the last round, Scripted production funding is not being offered in this round. However applications for supported Scripted development funding for online and linear content will be considered.

Read the full Te Māngai Pāho and NZ On Air Co-fund RFP here.

Important dates

15 March 2021 - Round opens via the online application system Te Pūahatanga

16 April 2021, 5pm - Application deadline. Round closes.

14 May 2021 - Applicants notified. This date may be extended at Te Māngai Pāho and NZ On Air’s sole discretion.

In November 2019 NZ On Air issued a Discussion paper to inform a review of Platform Contributions.

Given the competing tensions described in the paper, the sharp increase in applications submitted and funded in the prior two years, and the emergence of new digital platforms seeking to stream and produce local video content, NZ On Air recognised the need to clarify guidelines and expectations of platform contributions.

This draft policy was framed at the end of 2019 but was not released earlier due to the arrival of COVID-19 in Aotearoa, and the general uncertainty this created, as well as the platform contribution subsidy provided by the Government. With the platform contribution due to cease at the end of June, it is timely for NZ On Air to restate our expectations in this area for the next financial year.

We have created a Summary and Draft Policy paper that summarises the public feedback NZ On Air received in response to the 2019 paper. We've outlined a proposed approach that will form NZ On Air’s first official Platform Contributions policy.

You can read this paper on our website here. We're happy to receive further feedback on this paper, please provide this to hilaire@nzonair.govt.nz by Thursday 11 March 2021.