Government hired PI to watch rugby on TV

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A Government ministry hired a private detective to watch World Cup rugby final matches on television to see if advertising was run in the programme, the Auckland District Court was told this morning.

The revelation came as the state opened its case against TV3 owners Mediaworks who are being prosecuted by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage for screening advertisements on Sunday mornings.

They face three counts for screening the ads during the quarters, semis and finals of the World Cup in October last year.

The ministry claims this violated the Broadcasting Act which bans Sunday morning advertising. If found guilty TV3 could be fined up to $100,000 on each count.

In opening for the ministry, Mark Woolford told Judge AA Sinclair, that much of the evidence was agreed with the defence and would be submitted in written form.

He gave the court a witness list, including that of Auckland private investigator Peter Ward.

"He was asked by the Ministry to watch TV," he said with a grin, "on three consecutive Sundays and he has taken recordings of those."

Ward would provide recordings of the three matches "together with a summary of the broadcasts at issue."

As New Zealand lost the first of the matches the disclosure of the involvement of a private investigator drew smiles from the judge and the court.

Away from court Ward would not disclose any details of his assignment.

"We never discuss private clients business with the media, I'm sorry ... you've got what's in the public forum, that's all you get from me," he told Fairfax Media.

For TV3 Queen's Counsel Julian Miles said TV3 did not break the ban because its broadcast was not only to a New Zealand domestic audience, but through Fiji TV's satellite network, on to a greater audience of nine million people in the Pacific.

He also signalled that TV3 would argue that the ban on advertising breached the Bill of Rights.

Miles also said the advertising ban had turned Sunday morning television into a "quality and cultural desert".

The hearing was adjourned until January 30 for a hearing of disputed evidence.

- © Fairfax NZ News