MTV New Zealand was a 24-hour general television entertainment channel operated by

MTV Networks International Paramount International Networks (PIN) is the international division of Paramount Global. The division oversees the production, broadcasting and promotion of key Paramount's brands outside of the United States. These brands include Paramount Net ...

. The channel launched on 18 August 2006. From its launch MTV New Zealand employed 23 people at its headquarters in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. MTV New Zealand was replaced with

MTV Australia MTV is a 24-hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which serves Australia and New Zealand. It is operated by parent company Paramount Networks UK & Australia headquartered in London with a local of ...

on 30 November 2010 while still retaining localised advertising and website for New Zealand. As of November 2011, MTV.co.nz redirects viewers to MTV.com.au.

History

Between June 1997 to June 1998,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

was operated in New Zealand as a free to air channel by

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

using content from UK version of MTV. It controversially replaced Auckland's free-to-air music TV channel

Max TV Max TV was a New Zealand music channel available free to air on UHF channel 49 in Auckland from 28 October 1993 to 3 December 1997. When Max TV began transmission it was known as Max: The Music Channel. The channel was jointly owned and operated ...

and Christchurch's Cry TV, and was only broadcast in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. On 18 May 2006

SKY Network Television Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite television, satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a ...

announced the launch of a licensed, localised MTV channel, operated by Viacom New Zealand. The announcement of the channel triggered discussion among the public and in online forums. The channel had the backing of several influential New Zealanders in the music industry including: Ed St. John, President and CEO,

Warner Music Australasia Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records * Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * All Money In * Artist Partners Group * Asylum Rec ...

;

Denis Handlin Denis Anthony Handlin AO (born 1951) is an Australian former entrepreneur and business executive who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Music Entertainment Australia and New Zealand and President of Sony Music Entertainmen ...

, Chairman & CEO,

Sony BMG Music Entertainment Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

Australia & New Zealand; Andy Murnane, CEO,

Dawn Raid Entertainment Dawn Raid Entertainment is a record label based in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, in New Zealand. It has signed many New Zealand Hip-hop and R&B artists such as Savage, Adeaze, Aaradhna, The Deceptikonz, Devolo and Ill Semantics. The founders of ...

; and local hip-hop artist

Savage Savage may refer to: Places Antarctica * Savage Glacier, Ellsworth Land * Savage Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Savage Ridge, Victoria Land United States * Savage, Maryland, an unincorporated community * Savage, Minnesota, a city * Savage, Mi ...

. It commenced full operations on 16 August 2006. In 2007

announced its nominees for the

MTV Australia Video Music Awards 2007 The MTV Australia Video Music Awards 2007 was broadcast live from Acer Arena on 29 April 2007 on MTV Australia. It was then repeated on the Ten Network on 6 May 2007. The hosts for the awards were Fergie, along with Good Charlotte, while Sophi ...

. Along with the usual categories came the New Zealand viewers choice award which was a special category for New Zealand artists. The winner (which was announced on the night) was

Goodnight Nurse Goodnight Nurse was a New Zealand pop punk band formed in Auckland in 2001. The group originally began as a trio, but later changed to a four-piece prior to the release of their second album. It consisted of lead vocalist Joel Little, guitaris ...

. In celebration of this MTV New Zealand (along with

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

) hosted the world's first MTV Mile High Gig which made its way from New Zealand to the

MTV Australia Video Music Awards The MTV Australia Awards (previously known as the MTV Australia Video Music Awards or AVMA's) started in 2005 and were Australia's first awards show to celebrate both local and international acts. The last edition happened in 2009. History The M ...

and had live bands,

and

Dukes Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

, on the plane. MTV aired ''MTV Snow Jam'' to celebrate their first birthday, featuring acts such as

Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his debut album, ''Lupe Fiasco's ...

, Mareko and

The Mint Chicks The Mint Chicks were a New Zealand noise rock/art punk group (the band began to refer to their style of music as "troublegum" and have been referred to as anything from neo-punk to schizo-pop to the only half-serious genre definition of shit-gaz ...

, on 18 August 2007 at Snow Park in Wanaka. The show was in conjunction with the finals of the Billabong Slopestyle Jam competition.

Website

The website officially launched in July 2006 and only showed a promo for the channel (which related to cows and cow milk which makes people do strange things), a form to win tickets to the 2006 VMAs, VJ search and launch party info. The full site launched with the channel on 18 August 2006 and included a home page with MTV New Zealand promos, news, features, competitions, interactive forums, a page on MTV Full Tank and more. A redesigned website was launched on Monday, 29 May 2007. This redesign mirrored the then-recently launched

website and utilised a different key colour to differentiate it. This was the website design that was used until the channel's shutdown.

Closure of New Zealand office

It was confirmed on 28 September 2010 that MTV Networks International would close its offices in Auckland and relocate MTV New Zealand to MTV Networks Australia & New Zealand's offices in Sydney, Australia. This came into effect as of 30 November 2010, alongside the channel's closure.

Programming and schedule

MTV New Zealand broadcast flagship MTV programs including ''

Punk'd ''Punk'd'' is an American hidden camera–practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003. It was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, with Kutcher serving as producer and host. It bears a resemblance to both the ...

Pimp My Ride ''Pimp My Ride'' is an American television series produced by MTV and hosted by rapper Xzibit, which ran for six seasons on MTV from 2004 to 2007. In each episode, a car in poor condition is both restored and customized. The work on the show w ...

Laguna Beach Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and a ...

'' and '' The Hills''. Local MTV programs included '' Full Tank'' hosted by Amber Peebles and Jay Reeve, and ''100% Pure NZ'', a local music show dedicated to NZ music releases. MTV also broadcast a Top 10 Countdown nightly, although the genre of songs played changed from one day to the next. On 6 July 2007 MTV launched ''The Mix'' which was hosted by Amber Peebles and Jay Reeve. Despite MTV marketing itself as 'Music Television', there were only 3–4 music shows show on MTV within each 24-hour day. Most of the programming was MTV created content that has little to do with music (''

'', ''

'', '' Full Tank'', '' The Hills'', etc.), however music videos were often shown between shows.

Programming blocks

MTV (New Zealand) showed a variety of specialty programming blocks. This is a somewhat exhaustive list: * ''Dumb-ass Tuesday'' - Comedy shows like ''

, Jackass,

Wildboyz ''Wildboyz'' is an American television series. It is a spin-off and follow-up to '' Jackass''. ''Wildboyz'' debuted in 2003 on MTV, and moved to MTV2 in its third season. The show starred Steve-O and Chris Pontius, who perform stunts and acts ...

'', and ''Dirty Sanchez'', some shows could be seen in groups of 2 episodes. It ran from 8pm to midnight on Tuesdays. * ''Nu-shite'' (sometimes bowdlerized to Nu-sh*te) - If you missed something new during the week or want to see it again, this is where you would go. It ran from 4pm to 8pm on Saturdays. * ''The 10-spot'' - Different shows aired at 10pm every weeknight. * ''Monday Night's a B*tch'' (seen as ''Monday Night's a Bitch'' on the channel) - Shows like ''

'', ''

My Super Sweet 16 ''My Super Sweet 16'' is an American reality television series documenting the lives of teenagers, usually in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, generally with wealthy parents who throw lavish, excessive and expensive coming-of-age ce ...

'', and '' The Hills'' could be seen here. It ran from 8pm to midnight on Mondays. * ''Lowrider Thursday'' - Car shows like ''

'', ''

Road Rules ''Road Rules'' is an MTV reality show that was a sister show of the network's flagship reality show, ''The Real World''. The series debuted on July 19, 1995, and ended on May 9, 2007. This allowed ''Road Rules'' a total of 14 seasons and 12 year ...

,'' and '' Trick It Out'' dominate. It ran from 8pm to midnight on Thursdays. * ''Larry & Spud Sunday Roast'' - Programs strategically placed for easy viewing. It ran from 8pm to midnight on Sunday nights. * ''Wacked Out Wednesdays'' - Programs such as ''

Room 401 ''Room 401'' is a hidden camera/reality television series on MTV, executive produced by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. It is named after the room Harry Houdini died in at Detroit's Grace Hospital in 1926. The show also used some of his famous ...

'', ''

Fist of Zen Fist of Zen is an MTV reality game show. It was modeled after the " Silent Library" segment from the Japanese comedy show ''Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!'' Fist of Zen was produced by Monkey Kingdom. Plot The show consists of a team ...

'', and ''Scarred'' are broadcast during this programming block on Wednesdays. * '' Slip Slop Slapper Sundays'' - Programs repeated twice running from 6pm-11pm. Shows such as '' Maui Fever'', '' The Hills'', '' Living Lahaina'' and ''

A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila ''A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila'' is an American reality television dating game show similar to the TV show '' The Bachelor''. It premiered on October 9, 2007 on MTV starring Tila Tequila. The series consists of a bisexual-themed reality dati ...

'' were aired. * ''Sweatin' Beats'' - Music videos played from 3am-5am for partiers. Usually techno or dance songs were played. A themed marathon ran every weekend, from 10am-3pm on Saturday and 1pm-8pm on Sunday. The theme changed every week.

Former VJs

* Amber Peebles * Jay Reeve * Sam Kelway

MTV Networks New Zealand

MTV Networks New Zealand consisted of: * MTV (New Zealand) *

Nickelodeon (New Zealand) Nickelodeon was a television channel in New Zealand that targeted audiences aged 3–14. The channel launched on 1 August 2006 and was available on Sky Television (New Zealand), Sky Television Channel 041. The channel closed on 30 November 2010, ...

Comedy Central (New Zealand) Comedy Central is an Australian and New Zealand 24-hour linear subscription television channel dedicated to comedy programming owned by Paramount Global, launched on April Fool's Day 2009 in New Zealand and on 1 April 2016 in Australia. The chan ...

(still operating)

References

External links

The Official MTV New Zealand Website

MTV New Zealand MySpace

MTV International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mtv New Zealand MTV channels Defunct New Zealand television channels Television channels and stations established in 2006 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2010 Music video networks in New Zealand Music video networks in Australia

History

Website

Closure of New Zealand office

Programming and schedule

Programming blocks

Former VJs

MTV Networks New Zealand

See also

References

External links