Destiny Church show dropped by TVNZ

Stuff/December 10, 2004

Destiny TV may have lost its weekday morning slot on TV2, but the programme's producers have vowed to find a way to keep Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki on air.

Mr Tamaki's show has been dropped by the Government-owned network, and its 6.30am slot has been filled by Buzz and Poppy, a New Zealand-made television show that chronicles the exploits of two adventurous huhu grubs.

Two other evangelical shows, Creflo A Dollar Jnr and This is Your Day with Benny Hinn remain screening on the network, while competing broadcasters TV3 and Prime have similar shows screening in the early hours.

Destiny TV was the main means of publicity for the Destiny Church, founded by Mr Tamaki in Rotorua. Now based in Auckland, there are 20 branches of the church nationwide.

"(TVNZ) have replaced our time slot ... Their reasoning was that it did not fit with their new charter," Destiny TV producer Janine Cardno said. "We have said that it does fit their charter in many ways."

Ms Cardno said the show's producers were still talking to TVNZ about what other time slots might be available.

However, she did not rule out a shift to another network, such as Prime.

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TV2 publicist Nicole Wood would not comment about why TVNZ was no longer screening the show.

The Destiny Church has made headlines through its opposition to the Civil Union Bill.