NZ On Air (NZOA; Māori: Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission operates largely separate from government policy but must follow directions from the Minister of Broadcasting. NZOA is responsible for the funding of public broadcasting content across television, radio and other media platforms. It is also a major investor in New Zealand independent producers.

NZ On Air is the operating name of the Broadcasting Commission formed in the Broadcasting Act 1989 alongside the Broadcasting Standards Authority, meant to encourage individuals to pay the historical Broadcasting Fee that funded public broadcasters. In 1999 the Broadcasting Fee was abolished, and NZOA now receives funding directing from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.^[2][3]

This section does not cite any sources. (July 2020)

NZ On Air's activities can be broken up into several areas:

NZOA was established under the Broadcasting Act 1989, initially funded by an annual NZ$110 licence fee known as the Public Broadcasting Fee, paid by each household with a television set.^[2]

A strong campaign developed in the late 1990s from a section of the public against the Broadcasting Fee.^[3] The reason behind the campaign was to prove "whether the broadcasting fee is a tax and the legality of applying GST to this tax".^{[citation needed]} In the end the fee was scrapped in 1999, and the commission has since been directly funded by the government. The fee was collected from those people who owned a television set although the fee was funding much more than television work, especially radio. Some campaigners believed this was unfair.

This section does not cite any sources. (July 2020)

NZ on Air produces and distributes the Kiwi Hit Disc to showcase new funded music. NZOA provides "Making Tracks" funding for recording songs and their associated music videos. Funded music is chosen by a monthly, rotating panel of broadcast and music professionals.

NZ on Air has attracted criticism over claims of misuse of its funds. In mid-2010 it spent $75,000 on two events celebrate 21 years of activity^[4] and between 2006 and 2011 it gave $80,000 in funding to help produce recordings and music videos for Annabel Fay, daughter of one of New Zealand's richest men, Sir Michael Fay.^[5][6][7] The Fay controversy contributed to the scrapping of the NZ on Air Album funding scheme in December 2010.^[8] NZ on Air was also criticised in 2012 for helping fund the production of The GC, a TV3 documentary series about young Māori New Zealanders living on Australia's Gold Coast^[9] and for granting $30,000 to assist recording by Titanium, the winner of a radio competition to create a boy band.^[10]

In early 2012, Labour MPs accused NZ on Air of a potential conflict of interest when NZ on Air board member and Prime Minister John Key's electorate chairman Stephen McElrea questioned the timing of the NZ on Air-funded documentary Inside Child Poverty, broadcast four days before the 2011 New Zealand general election.^[11] Two days after the broadcast, NZ on Air CEO Jane Wrightson had written to broadcaster TV3, expressing her disappointment with the show being broadcast days before the election. Complaints were laid with the Electoral Commission, which found the documentary did not come under its jurisdiction so it could not rule. The Broadcasting Standards Authority also received a complaint, but found the documentary did not break its rules on fairness, and law and order.^[12][13]

• Television in New Zealand
• Radio in New Zealand