Hard News: Locking in the Future
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Sacha, in reply to
I was prepared to accept a case that the risk of Mediaworks' failure was such as to justify financing.
Same - though that industry seems better placed for non-disruptive ownership changes than many others are.
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the risk of Mediaworks' failure was such as to justify financing
I can understand the government needing to bail out a bank, Air New Zealand, maybe even a telco.
But why should one of our numerous commercial radio operators be so important as to justify a bailout? If they'd gone bust, then presumably others might have bid for the frequencies, or they could just have been added to the unlicensed 'guard band" spectrum if there were no takers.
I'm afraid that it looks very much to me that Mediaworks are "Too Good A National Supporter To Fail".
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And The Standard add Bill English being put on the spot on telly yesterday:
A little while later, MED realised that when the government lets someone pay a fee over time and charges interest on it, that’s a loan and requires the Minister of Finance’s approval under the Public Finance Act. So, English must have signed off on it, which makes his comments on Q+A yesterday interesting:
"GUYON Another bailout in the news this week and for some weeks – MediaWorks. Why did you loan MediaWorks $43 million?
BILL Well, I think as it’s been explained there, that’s not a loan.
GUYON But it is a loan, because you signed a document saying it was a loan under the Public Finance Act. Otherwise it would have been unlawful. Do you remember that?
BILL I do remember being— I do remember the Cabinet discussion about it, of course.
GUYON So it is a loan."
English will be pissed off that he is being drawn into Joyce’s dirty little deal.
Happy to see a journo calling him on his (frequent) lying too.
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Conspiracy theory: having a large media company like MediaWorks fail would scare off potential investors in TVNZ. The government demonstrating that they'll cover your back when things get a bit tight on the other hand...
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One thing I've found rather interesting about the current debate on UFB is that suddenly a whole lot of people are singing the praises of the current Telecom Wholesale/Chorus setup. It's an odd experience, because we know the same problems are there today that were there last year when the same people were complaining about it.
My real concern is that however this thing finally shakes out, there'll be the same mistakes made at an operational level that we see with the current wholesale setup (whether or not there is ever any such thing as "Wholesale Fibre" as we know it.) Things like products and processes being designed for the lowest common denominator customer (i.e. urban residential connections) with a "one size fits all" mentality-so providers will have to work overtime to provide even a moderate level of service to business customers who will be (at least according to the rhetoric) the "wealth generators" in this brave new world. This is the sort of thing that won't ever make the newspapers even if it does happen, because people will believe (as they do with the current arrangement) that this is as good as it gets.
I'm also really struggling to see how rural customers are going to fit in to this equation. It's pretty obvious to me at the moment that they're not seriously being considered as a factor.
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Islander, in reply to
OOOh YESSS!
Rural costomers are going to be - left in the shit from the cow shed- -
Rural customers are to be served by a different set-up, the Rural Broadband Initiative, the RBI. This has also been handed to Telecon, with a dash of Vodafone thrown in to show it's all above board, yeah right.
It's all a sham anyway, Telecom and National are bosom buddies. -
Islander, in reply to
+1
I get so tired of this Nat grab philosophy - it's been going on for all my life. Labour works to recompense all workers & beneficeraries when it is actually an effective governing body - and then we get fiscally carnivorous Natgrabbers elected back in again -BECAUSE THEY BRIBE! And, estupidos believe their bribes~berloody hell!I'd say we deserve the nat crap EXCEPT none of my family voted for Nat vileness- and - we'll fight-
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Sacha, in reply to
having a large media company like MediaWorks fail would scare off potential investors in TVNZ
That seems plausible. Thanks.
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Islander, in reply to
Plausible?
Really?
When this Nat government is bailing out all it's other nasty buddies? (SFC/Hotchins/AlliedFarmers & the crappy media lot-) -
Sacha, in reply to
providers will have to work overtime to provide even a moderate level of service to business customers who will be (at least according to the rhetoric) the "wealth generators" in this brave new world.
Yes, you'd have expected this government if anyone to differentiate service levels to match revenue timing. Might also avoid the need to bribe providers with a regulatory holiday.
Home-based work would in time mean similar imperatives for services like real-time hi-res videoconferencing, which would keep the rollout rolling. However, no balls and no vision, even on their own narrow terms. Pathetic creatures.
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Sacha, in reply to
the link seems well-observed, to me
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Islander, in reply to
Actually, no vision and no alternatives, no balls and no ideals, no initiatives, no forward thinking, no futurisitic ideas- and no future with Nats-
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Islander, in reply to
???
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Sacha, in reply to
Both TVNZ and MediaWorks are media companies; potential investors (after the election that Labour et al are so determined to lose) pay attention to the fortunes of both.
Voters, you did realise that public television is 'nice to have' right?
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Sacha, in reply to
no initiatives, no forward thinking
That seems to be a common misconception on the left - of course this government have a plan. You're watching it.
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O, - right!
That glassy pale blue screen... -
Latest Mediaworks excavation: how Steven Joyce put the fear into Cabinet.
After Mediaworks had opened their books, and Deloittes had found that they didn't need our money, Joyce took a paper to Cabinet arguing that unless they got a deal, they would default on their payments and go into liquidation. These claims appear by magic in the first draft of the paper, with no hint anywhere else in the advice of this scale of problem.
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Islander, in reply to
O ye sasquatches!
This is really incredible - except Idiot Savant has the evidence! What can we do now? I really ask this seriously- given that we have lying government advisories- -
Steve Barnes, in reply to
no initiatives, no forward thinkingThat seems to be a common misconception on the left – of course this government have a plan. You’re watching it.
Sigh...
Sacha, Since when have you started campaigning for National? They are a do nothing Government, well, nothing of any use to the country as a whole, they'll do heaps for their mates but fuck all of any use.
The Cycle Path was the only idea that came out of the "Job Summit" and fuck all has been done there (apart from the one kilometre of track put in by a private individual apparently) that was supposed to create 4000 jobs, yeah, right. What was the other thing, thats right "A nine-day working fortnight and an investment fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars "
Still waiting. What did we get? Tax cunts, the mention of asset sales, increase in GST, benefit cunts on the way, fuck all happening in Christchurch, Bailouts for mates and a fucking Holiday Highway.
Even Phill Goff on a bad day would achieve more.
Saying Media works was too big to fail leaves me lost for words.
Get a grip Man!
Vote Labour, Vote Early and Vote often.
These wankers are a waste of space and time and that's all we have. -
Kumara Republic, in reply to
O, - right!
That giant, glassy pale blue telescreen...Fixed.
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nzlemming, in reply to
That seems to be a common misconception on the left – of course this government have a plan. You’re watching it
I think it's flattering them to call it a plan as such. What they have is a mindset (I hesitate to label it as ideology) that colours all their decisions. A plan would require definite thought to have occurred.
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Sacha, in reply to
They are a do nothing Government, well, nothing of any use to the country as a whole, they'll do heaps for their mates
I've seen the same contradiction uttered on Te Standard, and it's part of what worries me about the left's chances:
they're a "do nothing" government - except for what they're doing.
If you think that's somehow accidental or opportunistic then it's going to be mighty hard to oppose, isn't it? Joyce and the other hollow men are not that smart, but a lacklustre opposition makes them look like evil geniuses. And ensures another term where we should know by now exactly what they have in mind.
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Bart Janssen, in reply to
Rural costomers are going to be – left in the shit
Some of the shit will be transported to apply to the urban customers in the spirit of equality and fairness that is a hallmark of the telecommunications industry.
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Good interview with Paul Brislen this morning on TVNZ Business. I quite like the way he suggests that if the minister won’t listen to his industry, they’ll just have to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister.
I do wonder if Joyce’s dictatorial style is going to come back and bite him at some point.
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