Over 11,400 hours of locally produced television programmes screened on New Zealand's six main free-to-air channels in 2009, according to NZ On Air's annual Local Content Report, released last week. Although this was a slight decrease (1.6%) on 2008 figures, NZ On Air suggests that this is a figure to be happy with, given the impact of the global recession. While SPADA was "heartened" by this evidence of support for local content, CEO Penelope Borland noted, "Measuring performance of local content solely by hours broadcast is very limiting in an environment in which production costs have increased and new platforms are proliferating."
New Zealand programmes, such as Fair Go, Dancing with the Stars, The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show, Outrageous Fortune and Go Girls, last year accounted for 15 of the top 20 television programmes. Particularly noteworthy in 2009 was the record number of documentary hours, particularly on TV One and Maori Television: 741 hours of New Zealand documentaries screened last year, compared with 691 hours in 2008, 621 hours in 2007, and a mere 36 hours in 1989. TV One screened the most local content overall, with 3,812 hours, while local content increased TV2, TV3 and Prime, and Maori Television screened the most local content in prime time.