A search for investors is all that's holding up regional television in the Bay of Plenty.

"We could start broadcasting in eight weeks if we had the funds,'' says Daryl Anderson, CEO of the Family Television Network.

The company has had approval to broadcast from a transmitter on Mount Te Aroha, which would allow programming to reach the Bay of Plenty and Hamilton city.

"We have approached several individuals in Tauranga but we are considering taking our search for local investors into the public arena,'' says Daryl.

Ultimately the company would like to set up a studio in Tauranga, where local content could be filmed and produced.

As a charitable trust, the organisation has been producing regional television in the Matamata area since 2000. Twelve months ago it purchased Rotorua's Geyser TV, a tourist destination advisory channel and it started Family TV-Rotorua in July.

Although it is a charitable trust, the organisation is self-funding, from revenues generated. It is capital investment that requires support from the community. "We set it up as a charitable trust because we wanted the community to share ownership in terms of venture capital and providing the product the community wants,'' says Daryl.

In Rotorua, the Rotorua Energy Trust is backing the network to set up a studio. Trust Waikato has provided support in Matamata and is in talks to be involved with broadcasting to Hamilton city. He is confident investment will come through, either in terms of donations or venture capital. "It hasn't been hard in the past, as people are supportive of what we are trying to achieve,'' he says.

They have already got the main infrastructure in place, funding will allow regional studios to generate their own content.

In the early years the Family Television Network was staffed by volunteers and it broadcast from 7am-
11pm. Today there are 28 on the payroll and it beams into living rooms 24/7. Around 70 per cent of its work is programme production, with almost half coming from local content.

In addition to the television stations, the group has created commercial divisions that feed revenue back to the trust. Alpha Media Production creates the programmes, but has developed a strong income stream from producing promotional DVDs, corporate videos and commercials that are screened nationwide. Alpha Media Concepts was established to feed the network's programmes on to the internet, but has become a web hosting and graphic design company for others.

"We have an excellent skillbase that allows us to cross-feed our resources into other areas,'' says Daryl. "We've been able to create commercial opportunities, such as live-streaming Geyser TV on the internet.'' (Geyser TV is broadcast in 95 per cent of motels and hotels in the Rotorua area.) This has widened the audience to some 45,000 viewers per day, both here and offshore. Geyser TV is running on a loop in the Waikato between 2-3pm each day, around 100,000 Geyser TV maps are printed each year and there are plans to develop its application further, to reach the Free Independent Traveller market.

With a head office in Matamata, the organisation services its divisions and will ultimately service regional studios. Its current transmitter in the Kaimas is not strong enough to reach Hamilton or Tauranga, but the Te Aroha licence has changed all that.

"We don't have to get any bigger,'' says Daryl. "But we have grown because there is a real demand from communities for an alternative to the commercial television on offer.''

"We are a charitable trust. Rather than negatively attack what's available on national TV, we decided to do something about it. "Essentially, our family programming ensures all programmes can be watched by any member of the family at any point.'' Programming will cover all genres, including sport and, by law, the station can generate only 50 per cent of revenue through advertising.