Press Release:
New Zealand High Commissioner Tiffany Babington, presented new broadcasting equipment from Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) to Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) today.
PCBL, also known as Pasifika TV, is a New Zealand Government initiative funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It aims to strengthen relationships in the Pacific through building the capacity and capability of Pacific free-to-air broadcasters. It supports the Pacific media sector by delivering New Zealand originated content that can be rebroadcast to local audiences and supports the production of local content via the provision of field equipment and training.
Earlier this year, TBC was successful in receiving funding from the contestable Pasifika on Air Fund to produce a series focussing on COVID resilience in the Kingdom. This programme is currently in production in cooperation with Auckland-based production house Sunpix.
After consultation with Pacific broadcasters, and following on from journalism training, PCBL earlier this year gifted TBC field production equipment, including a camera, lighting and audio kits and editing laptops to support remote reporting.
“The further equipment presented today will enable TBC to share live and local news content across the Pacific via PCBL’s PacHub network. PacHub is built on the LiveU infrastructure, which is used widely internationally, and is an industry standard for live transmission and news gathering” Natasha Meleisea, CEO of PCBL said.
“We will soon see eight Pacific countries contributing news content on a daily basis to the Pasifika TV service for rebroadcast across the region. I am pleased Tonga is part of this huge milestone for broadcasting in the Pacific of connecting newsrooms across the Pacific. Sharing news and information will enable Pacific countries to learn more about what is happening in each other’s territories” Her Excellency Tiffany Babington, New Zealand High Commissioner said.
“We are indeed grateful as PCBL has been helping the [Tonga Broadcasting] Commission financially and technically for several years including the hand-over of this equipment under Content Sharing Program of PCBL with TBC and other free-to-air Pacific Broadcasters today. We are pleased that we can continue to provide support to PCBL during this time to best meet the needs of this project, that is to share content LIVE within the Pacific Region.” Mrs Petunia Tupou, Chair of Board of Directors for Tonga Broadcasting Commission said.
This connectivity initiative reflects Aotearoa New Zealand’s commitment to building strong and more resilient partnerships in the Pacific.
