Need to Localise in New Zealand? Nickelodeon and the Institutional Logics of ‘Media Superpowers’

Abstract

Following the call for studies that ‘turn away from speculative theory and argument-by-anecdote towards a more empirical consideration of media institutions as one of the contested interfaces between national and global forces’ (Curtin, 2005: 159), this paper investigates the institutional logics of Nickelodeon in the Asia-Pacific region. Focusing on Nickelodeon's operations in New Zealand can provide a particularly revealing case study in the dynamics of media globalisation and the ‘globalisation/fragmentation dialectic’ that defines the existence of media conglomerations today. The paper concludes that — especially when compared to Australia — Nickelodeon in New Zealand represents a revealing case which underscores the domination of the ‘global’ in the globalisation/fragmentation dialectic. It is particularly ironic that Nickelodeon, among global media companies, distinguishes itself as a promoter of customisation, and that the future of pay and digital television in New Zealand is primarily shaped by politicians who have the tendency to ‘believe that only the market has the necessary understanding’ (Horrocks, 2004: 66).

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