The Broadcasting Standards Authority (Māori: Te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho; abbreviated BSA) is a New Zealand Crown entity created by the Broadcasting Act 1989 to develop and uphold standards of broadcasting for radio, free-to-air and pay television.

The main functions of the BSA are: The BSA is made up of a board appointed for a fixed term by the Governor-General on the advice of the Minister of Broadcasting and Media, meaning that practically the Minister (and Cabinet) appoint the board.

In June 2021, former Minister of Internal Affairs Jan Tinetti announced a review of New Zealand's content regulatory system, saying the current system is confusing for content providers and consumers, with consumers having no single complaints process, and some content providers being regulated by multiple regimes.

The review aims ‘to design a modern, flexible and coherent regulatory framework’ that will better protect New Zealanders from harmful or illegal content.

The codebook contains eight standards:[3] Except for complaints concerning election programming or solely concerning privacy, complaints regarding breaches of broadcasting standards must be raised first with the broadcaster.