{{Short description|Television broadcasters of the New Zealand Parliament}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2014}} {{Refimprove|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox television channel | name = Parliament TV / AM Network | logo = Ptvnzlogo.PNG | logo_size = 300px | logo_caption = The Parliament TV logo | image = | launch_date = 9 October 2007 (television broadcasting) | closed_date = | picture_format = [[576i]] [[16:9]] ([[SDTV]]) | network = | owner = New Zealand Parliament | country = [[New Zealand]] | area = New Zealand | headquarters = [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]] | former_names = | replaced = | replaced_by = | sister_channels = | timeshift_service = | website = [http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/SeeHear/PTV/ Parliament TV]<br>[http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/Visiting/LiveBroadcast/ Video live stream]<br>[http://www.radionz.co.nz/parliament AM Network]<br>[http://radionz.co.nz/audio/live/parl/adaptive.asx Audio live stream] | terr_serv_1 = [[Freeview (New Zealand)|Freeview]] | terr_chan_1 = Channel 31 | terr_serv_2 = [[AM broadcasting|AM frequencies]] | terr_chan_2 = Various }}
'''Legislature broadcasters in New Zealand''' are broadcasters of the [[New Zealand Parliament]] [[New Zealand House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]. Television channel Parliament TV and radio network AM Network are funded by the [[New Zealand House of Representatives]] to broadcast full and unedited coverage of its proceedings. The Office of the Clerk also funds a fully independent written, audio and video political reporting service of Parliamentary proceedings called Parliament Today.
Sitting hours are seasonal and are generally within five weekly sessions. Normal sittings are 14:00 and 18:00 Tuesdays; 19:30 and 22:00 Tuesday nights; 14:00 and 18:00 Wednesdays; 19:30 and 22:00 Wednesday nights; and 14:00 and 18:00 Thursdays. Special circumstances can allow Parliament to sit under urgency, usually between 09:00 Tuesday morning and 24:00 Saturday evening.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/Programme/9/4/d/00CLOOCThisWkProgramme1-House-sitting-programme.htm |title=New Zealand Parliament House sitting programme |publisher=New Zealand Government |access-date=2009-06-10 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090514083630/http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/Programme/9/4/d/00CLOOCThisWkProgramme1-House-sitting-programme.htm| archive-date= 14 May 2009 }}</ref>
==History==
Prior to the AM Network, parliamentary broadcasts were carried on the [[RNZ Concert|Concert programme]], with New Zealand becoming the first country in the world to regularly broadcast parliament proceedings on 25 March 1936.<ref>{{cite web |title=First radio broadcast of Parliament {{!}} NZHistory, New Zealand history online |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/sound/radio-broadcasting-parliament |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |access-date=15 October 2023 |date=18 December 2014}}</ref>
Veteran press gallery journalist and political commentator Charles Wheeler introduced the broadcast of the opening of the [[25th New Zealand Parliament|25th Parliament]], with Speaker-elect [[Bill Barnard|Barnard]]. Wheeler told listeners on the first broadcast that "for the first time in the history of New Zealand broadcasting, the microphone has been introduced into Parliament itself so that even the most distant elector may gain some first-hand knowledge of the more important happenings". He said New Zealand was blazing the trail in allowing parliamentary broadcasts.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/sound/first-radio-broadcast-parliament|title=First radio broadcast of Parliament |publisher=NZHistory.net.nz |access-date=7 October 2014 }}</ref>
Since the 1980s, the AM Network has used to broadcast all live Parliamentary proceedings in full. On 17 July 2007, Parliamentary coverage was expanded to television.<ref>{{cite web |title=Parliament TV celebrates ten years of broadcasting democracy in action |url=https://www.parliament.nz/en/get-involved/features/parliament-tv-celebrates-ten-years-of-broadcasting-democracy-in-action |website=www.parliament.nz |publisher=New Zealand Parliament |access-date=15 October 2023 |language=en-NZ |date=17 July 2017}}</ref>
==Services==
===Parliament TV===
[[Image:Maurice Williamson at the NZ Open Source Awards, 2007.jpg|right|thumb|The popularity of a video of a Parliamentary speech by [[Maurice Williamson]] led to him being invited to appear on ''[[The Ellen DeGeneres Show]]''.]] Parliament TV is managed by [[Kordia]] under a long-term contract to the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0707/S00175.htm | title= Live Webcasts Of Parliament Begin Today | access-date=2008-08-27}}</ref> and is made freely available to media companies. It broadcasts though media such as [[TVNZ]] and [[MediaWorks New Zealand]], as streaming video on the Internet, and, since 9 October 2007, on [[Freeview (New Zealand)|Freeview]] channel 31 and [[Sky (New Zealand)|Sky]] Channel 086.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Programming on Parliament TV is limited to live coverage of Parliament and scheduled repeats of Question Time on Parliamentary sitting days.<ref>[http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/Programme/9/4/d/00CLOOCThisWkProgramme1-House-sitting-programme.htm New Zealand Parliament - House sitting programme], 2015</ref> It closes down outside non-sitting hours.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
===In The House===
Christchurch-based Tandem Studios is contracted to the Clerk of the House to live stream Parliament TV's broadcasts, and record, re-format and re-purpose the coverage as small highlight package videos on their In The House website and [[YouTube]] account. More than 22,000 videos have been uploaded, and the company claims the videos have received more than 3 million views.<ref>[http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/about About InTheHouse] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113074701/http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/about |date=13 January 2015 }}, 2015</ref>
Several videos from the final reading of the [[Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013]] were redistributed by ''[[The New Zealand Herald]]'' and other media. A video of one speech in favour of the Act, by [[National Party (New Zealand)|National Party]] MP [[Maurice Williamson]], went viral on [[YouTube]], [[Huffington Post]], [[Gawker]], [[New York Times]] and [[Pink News]]. It was broadcast on [[The Ellen DeGeneres Show]], with Williamson later declining an invitation to appear on the show.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/05/14/new-zealand-mp-who-gave-viral-pro-equal-marriage-speech-now-will-not-appear-on-ellen/ |title=New Zealand MP who gave viral pro-equal marriage speech will not appear on Ellen |date=14 May 2013 |publisher=[[Pink News]] |access-date=2015-01-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_13332.php |title=Williamson's Ellen appearance canned |publisher=[[GayNZ.com]] |access-date=2015-01-23}}</ref>
===AM Network=== [[File:Map of AM Network frequencies.png|thumb|Map of the AM Network frequencies.]] The AM Network is operated by [[Radio New Zealand]] under a similar contract, and uses a nationwide set of [[AM broadcasting]] transmitters that were previously used by [[Radio New Zealand Concert|The Concert Programme]] before it switched to [[FM broadcasting]]. The broadcasts are also available online, via live-streaming and through on-demand podcasts. The AM Network's Parliamentary broadcasts do not include continuity announcers or news bulletins, unlike other Radio New Zealand networks.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
In total, Radio New Zealand produces an estimated 17 hours of live Parliamentary broadcasting and just over an hour of packaged extracts. The Radio New Zealand smartphone app allows listeners to follow individual Parliamentary sittings on Apple and Android mobile devices. The broadcaster claims its iPhone App has been downloaded more than 50,000 times since it was first introduced in 2011.<ref name="AM Network">{{cite web| url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/parliament|title=AM Network |publisher=[[Radio New Zealand]] |access-date=2009-06-10 }}</ref>
The AM Network's closedown hours were originally used by [[Radio Sport|Sports Roundup]]. Since 1997, Christian broadcaster [[Rhema Media]] has consistently leased this time to broadcast the low-budget easy listening [[Rhema Media#Star|Star]] radio network.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sstar.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2 |title=About Southern Star |publisher=Sstar.co.nz |access-date=2011-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724194336/http://sstar.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Despite AM Network being technically owned by [[Radio New Zealand]], Star broadcasts [[Newstalk ZB|Newstalk ZB Affiliates Unit]] hourly news bulletins during the air time it leases.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/affiliates/radio.html |title=Newstalk ZB Affiliates Service |publisher=[[Newstalk ZB]] |access-date=3 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603224219/http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/affiliates/radio.html |archive-date=3 June 2010 }}</ref> AM Network's North Island frequencies are [[Auckland]] 882 AM, [[Waikato]] 1494 AM, [[Hawke's Bay Region|Hawke's Bay]] 909 AM and [[Wellington]] and [[Tauranga]] 657 AM. In the South Island, it broadcasts on [[Canterbury, New Zealand|Canterbury]] 963 AM, [[Dunedin]] 900 AM and [[Invercargill]] 1314 AM.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/listen/amfm | title= AM Network MW Frequencies| website= [[Radio New Zealand]]}}</ref>
===Parliament Today===
The Office of the Clerk also fully funds a political reporting service, providing written, audio and video summaries from the debating chamber and committee rooms of the House of Representatives completely independently from Radio New Zealand. It is the country's only consistent source of regular reports of parliamentary proceedings, with live reports of debates and decisions in the chamber from independent press gallery journalists Tom Frewen and Rheesh Lyon.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
Clerk of the House [[David McGee]] established the service in 1994, hoping to replicate the success [[BBC Radio 4]] show Today in Parliament has had since 1945. Parliament Today programmes summarise the most significant events and highlights from Question Time, debates and select committees, utilising audio from the AM Network for rebroadcast on other stations. [[Kiwi FM]], the [[Association of Community Access Broadcasters|community access stations]], the [[Student Radio Network|student radio stations]] and other stations broadcast the programmes around the country, and [[Radio New Zealand International]] broadcasts the programmes around the Pacific.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://parliamenttoday.co.nz/about/|title=About -- Parliament Today |publisher=Parliament Today |access-date=2014-07-10 }}</ref>
Each sitting week the service produces three daily programmes on sitting days, a weekly five-minute programme, a weekly ten minute programme, weekly 15 minute programme, a weekly 28 minute programme and a weekly 5 minute Select Committee report.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
The service ceased in 2016.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Freeview New Zealand}} {{Parliamentary broadcasters}} {{New Zealand radio networks}}
[[Category:Legislature broadcasters in New Zealand| ]]