TVNZ 1 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tahi) is the first national television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (
TVNZ). It is the oldest television broadcaster in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, starting out from 1960 as independent channels in the four main centres of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, networking in 1969 to become NZBC TV (although the individual facilities retained their
call signs
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...
into the 1970s). The network was renamed Television One (TV ONE, stylized as oɴe) in 1975 upon the break-up of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, and became a part of TVNZ in 1980 when Television One and
South Pacific Television
South Pacific Television (SPTV) was a television channel in New Zealand, which operated between 1976 and 1980.
History
The channel, then known as TV2, first went to air on 30 June 1975. It was the second national government television channel ...
(now sister channel
TVNZ 2
TVNZ 2 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Rua) is the second New Zealand television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It targets a younger audience than its sister channel, TVNZ 1. TVNZ 2's line up consi ...
) merged. The channel assumed its current name in October 2016.
TVNZ 1 is both a public broadcaster and a commercial broadcaster. Central to TVNZ 1 is news and current affairs, which is produced under the banner ''
1 News
''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 News'' also has ...
''. Also, it broadcasts sports programming under the banner ''
1 Sport''. Other programming targets the 25 to 54 demographic, and consists of mainly drama, general entertainment and documentaries, both locally and internationally (especially British) produced.
History
1960–1975: NZBC TV
At 7:30pm on 1 June 1960, New Zealand's first television channel,
AKTV2
AKTV (pronounced "active", officially branded as AKTV on IBC) was the primetime sports programming block in the Philippines. Owned and operated by TV5, it occupied the 5:00 to 11:00pm timeslot of IBC; weekend coverage usually began at 11:00 am ...
, started broadcasting in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
from the NZBC building at 74
Shortland Street
''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...
, previously used to broadcast public radio station 1YA and now home to
The University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn ...
's
Gus Fisher Gallery
Gus Fisher Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the Kenneth Myers Centre, a historic building restored in 2000 with the help of the gallery's patron, Gus Fisher (1920–2010). The gallery exhibits a re ...
. Owned and operated by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS, which became the
New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation
The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...
in 1962), it initially broadcast for two hours a day, two days a week.
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 Rive ...
's
CHTV3 followed in June 1961,
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 metr ...
's
WNTV1 a month later, and Dunedin's
DNTV2
DNTV2 was a television station in Dunedin, New Zealand established by the then New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in 1962. Its base, and studio complex operated from the historic Garrison Hall in Dowling Street. Until 2010 Garrison Hall was ...
on 31 July 1962.
Television licence
A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence ...
s were introduced in August 1960, initially costing
NZ£
The pound (symbol £, £NZ. for distinction) was the currency of New Zealand from 1840 until 1967, when it was replaced by the New Zealand dollar. Like the pound sterling, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (abbreviation s or /) each of 12 pen ...
4 (equal to
NZ$
The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New ...
171 in December 2013).
Television advertisements
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
began in April 1961 and were initially allowed only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Relay stations gradually expanded the four channels into regional New Zealand. Television coverage was expanded to Waikato, Tauranga, Manawatu and Wairarapa in 1963, to Hawke's Bay, South Otago and Southland in 1964, to South Canterbury in 1965 and to Whangarei and Taranaki in 1966. In addition, a number of televiewers' societies were established to set up and operate their own translators. By 1965, 300,000 television licences had been issued, and television was broadcasting seven nights a week.
Initially, the four television facilities were unlinked, and programming had to be shipped between stations. The sinking of in Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968 highlighted the lack (and necessity) of a video link. Footage shot in Wellington could not be broadcast in other centres around the country in real-time, and the extra-tropical cyclone which contributed to the disaster grounded air traffic, preventing the film being flown to other centres. Footage was screened in Christchurch and Dunedin via a recording made from the Wellington signal received in Kaikoura, which was then driven to Christchurch to be aired immediately.
By the time of the
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
mission in July 1969, the two islands were each network-capable via microwave link, but the link over Cook Strait had not been completed, and there was no link between New Zealand and the outside world. Footage of the moon landing was recorded on video tape at the
Australian Broadcasting Commission
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...
's
ABN-2
ABN is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Sydney. The station began broadcasting on 5 November 1956. Its original studios were located in Gore Hill and were in use up until March 2004, when they were co-located w ...
in Sydney, then rushed by an
RNZAF
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeal ...
English Electric Canberra
The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havil ...
to Wellington and WNTV1. To forward this to the South Island, the NZBC positioned one of its first
outside broadcasting
Outside broadcasting (OB) is the electronic field production (EFP) of television or radio programmes (typically to cover television news and sports television events) from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera ...
vans to beam the footage to a receiving dish across Cook Strait, from which it was forwarded through the recently commissioned South Island network. The link was completed later that year, the first
NZBC Network News transmitted on 3 November, read by newsreader
Dougal Stevenson
John Dougal Stevenson (born 1942) is a former New Zealand television news presenter.
Early life
Born in Dunedin in 1942 to a young unmarried mother, Stevenson was adopted out while still a young infant to a family living near Wānaka in Central ...
.
With the establishment of the
Warkworth satellite station in 1971, New Zealand could finally communicate with the rest of the world. The first live broadcast received by satellite was the 1971
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...
on 2 November.
[50 years of NZTV newspaper insert, Television New Zealand, 31 August 2010]
For the first 13 years, NZBC TV broadcast solely in black and white.
Colour television
Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...
, using the
Phase alternating line
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
(PAL) system, was introduced on 31 October 1973, in preparation for the
1974 British Commonwealth Games, held in
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 Rive ...
the following February. Due to the lack of colour facilities, only four of the ten sports (swimming,
diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), a ...
,
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
and
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
) could be broadcast in colour.
1975–1980: Television One
![Avalon television studios, Lower Hutt, NZ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Avalon_television_studios%2C_Lower_Hutt%2C_NZ.JPG)
On 1 April 1975, the NZBC was split into 3 separate state owned corporations: Television One,
TV2 and
Radio New Zealand.
The existing NZBC television service became Television One, and was based in
Avalon Television Centre in Lower Hutt which opened that day. Television One used the WNTV1 and DNTV2 studios and the existing channel frequencies, while AKTV2's Shortland Street studios and CHTV3 studios and new channel frequencies were used for the new TV2, which commenced later that year.
Television One commenced transmission on Tuesday 1 April 1975 at 2pm with a five-minute news bulletin read by Bill McCarthy, followed by the British drama series ''
Harriet's Back in Town''. Its two-hour opening special was broadcast live to air at 7pm that night and featured a preview of the programmes, plans and personalities for the new service.
On Saturday 17 July 1976, after snow and gale-force winds cut mains power to the Blue Duck microwave station near
Kaikoura, the station's diesel generator failed and left it running on batteries. The batteries eventually discharged by 7pm that night, severing the Television One network feed south into Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Technicians couldn't reach the station to repair the diesel generator and restore the network until late on Sunday morning, meaning most of the South Island missed the live opening ceremony of the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 P ...
.
1980–present: TVNZ
![TVNZ TV One](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/TVNZ_TV_One.svg)
In 1980 the two television channels merged to form
Television New Zealand
, 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 Solo ...
, with the purpose of finally providing a dividend to the Government. The merger was promised to provide 'complementary programming' for both channels. The channel was renamed as "Television One" until early 1995, when it was announced on-air as just "TV One".
Regional news programming was reintroduced in 1980 screening at 7.30pm for half an hour. The regional programmes broadcast from the four main TVNZ studios in Auckland (''Top Half''), Wellington (''Today Tonight''), Christchurch (''The Mainland Touch'') and Dunedin (''7.30 South'').
In 1982, the regional programmes were incorporated into the network news bulletin with ''7.30 South'' rebranded as ''The South Tonight''. Each region would break out from the network news for a 20-minute regional programme before returning to the network news for the weather. In 1989 the regional programmes were transferred to Network Two in the new timeslot of 5.45pm, and ''Top Half'' and ''Today Tonight'' were axed later that year. In 1990 ''The Mainland Touch'' and ''The South Tonight'' were transferred back to Television One and screened immediately after the Māori news programme ''Te Karere'' (live at 5.20pm in the North Island, delayed at 5.35pm in the South Island) and before the network news. Both programmes were axed altogether at the end of 1990.
In August 2008, TV One, along with TV2, moved to
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
high-definition for the start of the
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Both channels were originally only available in high-definition on the Freeview HD platform, before commencing high-definition broadcasts on the Sky platform on 1 June 2009 now moved to 1080i in August 2010.
In October 2016, the channel was renamed TVNZ 1.
Branding
TV One has used numerous logos throughout its history, though all have displayed "one" as a word, rather than as a number. The original 1975 logo featured large rounded lettering, sometimes with the top half of the "o" in the lowercase "one" divided into rainbow colours. This was replaced after the formation of Television New Zealand in 1980, with uppercase inline lettering.
The
Friz Quadrata typeface and a more classical look debuted in 1987, contrasting Channel 2's more contemporary appearance. The more familiar sans serif italic lettering, with mixed case lettering, was launched during the 1996 Olympics, variations of this logo were used up to 2013 with the colours changing every few years or the logo behind a coloured background. In 2013 the logo was changed, continuing to use the sans serif lettering but no longer in italics.
In October 2016 TV One was rebranded as TVNZ 1 with the logo changed to simply the number 1 in bold black with a red scribble pattern around the number, while sister channel TV2 renamed TVNZ 2, with a purple scribble pattern around the number.
Programming
Long-running TVNZ 1 programmes include rural documentary show ''
Country Calendar'' (since 1966) and consumer affairs show ''
Fair Go
''Fair Go'' is a New Zealand consumer affairs television programme hosted by Pippa Wetzell and Hadyn Jones. First aired in 1977, it is New Zealand's second longest-running local programme (after '' Country Calendar''). It is also highest-rate ...
'' (since 1977). The twice-weekly
Lotto Lotto may refer to:
* Lotto, original, 15th century name of the Italian lottery
* Lotto (Milan Metro), a railway station in Milan, Italy
* Lotto carpet, a carpet having a lacy arabesque pattern
* Lotto Sport Italia, an Italian sports apparel manu ...
draw airs on TVNZ 1 at 8:00pm on Saturdays and 8:20pm on Wednesdays.
News operation
TVNZ 1 broadcasts approximately 35 hours of news bulletins and current affairs programming per week. The flagship news bulletin is the daily hour-long ''1 News at 6pm.'' Half-hour bulletins air on weekdays at midday (''1 News at Midday'') and 10:30pm (''1 News Tonight''). ''
Breakfast'' airs from 6:00am to 9:00am on weekdays with five-minute bulletins every half-hour. The
Māori language bulletin ''
Te Karere'' airs at 4:00pm on weekdays.
''Seven Sharp'' is a weekday half-hour current affairs show following the 6pm bulletin. Hour-long
long-form journalism
Long-form journalism is a branch of journalism dedicated to longer articles with larger amounts of content. Typically, this will be between 1,000 and 20,000 words. Long-form articles often take the form of creative nonfiction or narrative journa ...
shows include
''20/20'' on Monday evenings and ''
Sunday'' on Sunday evenings. The hour-long political affairs show ''Q+A'' airs on Sunday mornings.
Technical details
From launch in 1960 until digital television transition was completed on 1 December 2013, TVNZ 1 broadcast terrestrially using analogue
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
-B&G.
The channel is broadcast on the government owned
Kordia
Kordia is a New Zealand government-owned company, offering a range of technology services and solutions to businesses. It provides a range of services, including mission-critical connectivity, cloud and cyber security services, as well as manag ...
terrestrial network as well as on one of the two Kordia satellite transponders, which is included in channel packages on the
Freeview Freeview may refer to:
* Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
* Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), ...
,
Igloo (2012–2017), and
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
platforms.
Timeshift channel (TVNZ 1+1)
TVNZ 1+1 was launched to Freeview and Sky customers from 1 July 2012 as TV ONE Plus 1. It is a channel with a one-hour time shift of the TVNZ 1 Auckland feed. The channel is available on Channel 6 on Freeview and 501 on Sky. This channel replaced
TVNZ 7
TVNZ 7 was a commercial-free New Zealand 24-hour news and information channel on Freeview digital television platform and on Sky Television from 1 July 2009. It was produced by Television New Zealand, which received Government funding to launc ...
, which was a public service news and documentary channel. On 1 September 2013, when TV2+1 (now called
TVNZ 2+1
, 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 Solom ...
) launched to replace
TVNZ U
, 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 Solom ...
, TV ONE Plus 1 moved to Channel 6 on Freeview, while TV2+1 took over Channel 7. The channel was rebranded as TVNZ 1+1 on 1 October 2016. On 21 March 2022, TVNZ 1+1 moved from Freeview channel 6 to Freeview channel 11 as part of six Freeview channel changes.
References
External links
*
{{Subscription television channels in New Zealand
TVNZ
New Zealand television channels
Television channels and stations established in 1960
English-language television stations in New Zealand