UPDATED
Already there’s talk of a counter bid from Maori TV, with iwi support…
### TVNZ News Tue 13 Oct 2009 Updated 18:25
Coalition fallout after new RWC bids
Source: ONE News
A government backed bid to trump Maori TV’s goal of screening the 2011 Rugby World Cup has sparked a bust-up in coalition relations between National and the Maori Party. Maori TV was the front runner to win the broadcasting rights to the 2011 event, however the government claimed 10% of the country would not be able to tune into the channel.
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### ODT Online Wed, 14 Oct 2009
Maori TV World Cup bid likely
A new Maori Television-led bid for Rugby World Cup games is likely after Prime Minister John Key intervened to prevent a bidding war between state broadcasters. Mr Key and Dr Sharples jointly told media this afternoon that they had got TVNZ, TV3 and Maori Television (MTS) to meet in Auckland to discuss a joint bid to be led by the Maori broadcaster.
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### ODT Online Wed, 14 Oct 2009
Warring parties meet over RWC bid
Broadcasters in a bidding war are meeting in Auckland to try to find a compromise bid for Rugby World Cup broadcasts.
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### ODT Online Wed, 14 Oct 2009
Derek Fox labels rugby coverage fiasco ‘scandalous’
Sports Minister Murray McCully is being blamed for stirring up the debacle over who will broadcast free-to-air coverage of the World Rugby Cup. Former Maori Television Service (MTS) chief executive, and former spokesman for Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples, Derek Fox said Mr McCully was “donkey deep” in attempts to spike MTS’s bid to the exclusive free-to-air rights.
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### ODT Online Wed, 14 Oct 2009
Maori TV defiant over RWC bid
A defiant Maori Television Service (MTS) says it won’t withdraw its bid for free-to-air Rugby World Cup broadcast rights despite the Government backing a rival bid by TVNZ. In a bizarre twist, the taxpayer-funded networks are competing for the local broadcast rights to 16 world cup games.
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Post by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 