Māori Television

Māori Television
Current Māori Television Logo
Launched	28 March 2004
Owned by	New Zealand Government Te Putahi Paoho
Picture format	576i 16:9 (anamorphic)
Slogan	Mā rātou, mā mātou, mā koutou, mā tātou. (For them, for us, for you, for everyone.)
Country	New Zealand
Website	maoritelevision.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Free-to-air SD
Satellite
Free-to-air SD
Cable
Pay TV SD

Māori Television, a New Zealand television station, broadcasts programmes that make a significant contribution to the revitalisation of the Māori language and culture. Funded by the New Zealand Government, the station started broadcasting on 28 March 2004 from a base in Newmarket. In July 2015 the Māori Television board decided that Hamilton or Rotorua could be a new home for the broadcaster.

Māori Television was launched on 28 March 2004 and attracted a cumulative audience of 300,000 in its first month on air (April 2004). The channel attracts 1.5 million viewers each month; half of all Māori aged five or more, and one third of all New Zealanders.

Te Reo is the station's second channel, launched in 28 March 2008. Te Reo stands out from its sister channel by having 100% Māori language without advertising or subtitles, featuring special tribal programming with a particular focus on new programming for the fluent audience.

The station is under the stewardship of two stakeholders which are the New Zealand Government, and the Maori Television Electoral College (Te Putahi Paoho). It has an annual budget of $45m, almost one third of state spending on television in New Zealand.

A survey conducted by the Business and Economic Research Limited found that the 84 per cent of the general New Zealand population believes that Māori Television should be a permanent part of New Zealand broadcasting.

Māori Television continues to attract a rapidly growing and increasingly broad audience across age, gender and ethnicities. More than two-thirds of the audience are non-Māori, who are looking for local programming such as Kai Time on the Road, Kete Aronui and Ask Your Auntie, many New Zealand movies and documentaries, and the diverse range of international movies and documentaries that normally would not get air-time on the main commercial networks.

There are seven members of the board of directors.

The station operates to revitalise Maori language and culture through broadcasting. The relevant legislation says "The principal function of the Service is to promote te reo Maori me nga tikanga Maori (Maori language and culture) through the provision of a high quality, cost-effective Maori television service, in both Maori and English, that informs, educates, and entertains a broad viewing audience, and, in doing so, enriches New Zealand's society, culture, and heritage".