Channel No. 6

So yesterday finally saw the dawn of the beleagured Maori television channel. A good thing or a bad thing?

Well, it does mean that I can no longer listen to CNN on Sky (we don't subscribe anymore, but still had it tuned in).

But it also means us non-Pay TV users finally have another channel-surfing destination. And judging by the promotional content broadcast over the last few weeks, from time to time it may even be a destination worth stopping at for longer than an ad break. Or at least, when something other than Prince Tui Teka, Billy T James or Pio Terei is on.



However, given the often dubious programming of our other state-owned 'charter' channel, one wonders whether a separate channel was really the best solution. Why not devote daytime on TV One to Maori programming, with the cream of the crop gaining the odd primetime slot? Surely a better bet than twenty-year old Coronation Street episodes or Days of our Lives ...