Platinum funded programmes a ratings hit

NZ On Air’s Platinum Fund continues to support quality television programming that Kiwis love to watch, says Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman.

Over two million viewers watched four locally-made dramas which screened on TV One’s Sunday drama season recently – Billy, Tangiwai: A Love Story, Bliss and Rage.

The $15 million Platinum Fund was established by the Government in 2009 to support high quality locally-made programming. It took the TVNZ Charter funding and made it available to all producers and free-to-air channels.

‘’The Platinum Fund is backing local content that New Zealanders want to watch, and it means that the best projects get to the screen,’’ Dr Coleman says.

‘’The high ratings for the Sunday drama season reinforces the success of the contestable Platinum Fund. That’s an excellent use of public broadcasting funding,’’ says Dr Coleman.

Heading the ratings was the drama about legendary entertainer Billy T James which captured 733,000 viewers, or 18.1 per cent of the total television audience on August 21 – the highest rating for a Sunday Theatre programme for four years.

Following Billy, Tangiwai recorded the second highest ratings with 636,800 viewers. The Katherine Mansfield story Bliss attracted 399,500 people while Rage, a story based on the 1981 Springbok Tour, pulled in 367,500 viewers. In total 2,136,800 viewers tuned in to the four programmes.