, type =
Crown entity
A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term '' Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act ...
, industry =
Broadcast
Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...
television
, num_locations =
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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
, location =
Auckland, New Zealand
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 It ...
, area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some
Pacific Island
Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one ...
nations such as the
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, langu ...
,
Fiji, and the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...
, founded =
, owner =
Minister of Finance (50%)
Minister of Broadcasting (50%)
, key_people =
Simon Power (CEO)
, homepage =
, divisions =
, products =
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
, subsid = Former TV stations
, revenue = (2019)
, net_income = (2019)
, assets = 43.2% (2019)
, predecessor =
Television New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki o Aotearoa), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a
television network
A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...
that is broadcast throughout New Zealand and parts of the Pacific region. All of its currently-operating channels are
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
and commercially funded.
TVNZ was established in February 1980 following the merger of the two government-owned television networks, Television One (now
TVNZ 1) and
South Pacific Television (now
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 cons ...
), under a single administration. It was the sole television broadcaster in New Zealand until November 1989 when private channel TV3 (now
Three) was launched.
TVNZ operates
playout services from its
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 I ...
studio via Kordia's fibre and microwave network for
TVNZ 1,
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 cons ...
and
TVNZ Duke
TVNZ Duke ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tiuka), formerly Duke and stylized as TVNZ DUKE or DUKE, is a New Zealand television channel run by state broadcaster Television New Zealand. It screens programming targeted at a male audience. It was launched on 20 ...
, with
new media
New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...
video services via the American-owned
Brightcove which is streamed on the
Akamai RTMP/
HLS DNS based caching network. Its former channels include
TVNZ Kidzone (closed 30 April 2016),
TVNZ Heartland (closed 31 May 2015),
TVNZ U (closed August 2013),
TVNZ 7 (closed June 2012),
TVNZ 6 (closed 2011), and
TVNZ Sport Extra (closed 2009).
Approximately 90% of TVNZ's revenue is from commercial activity (such as advertising and merchandising). The remainder of its funding comes from government funding agencies. There has been reoccurring debate about TVNZ's role and whether it should be treated as a
public-service broadcaster or a fully commercial network, and the current government plans to create a replacement public media entity.
History
Formation
TVNZ was created in February 1980, through the
merger
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
of
Television One and
South Pacific Television (which was renamed TV2). Until January 1989, it was paired with
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...
as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ).
The broadcaster was initially based in Television One's former headquarters at the
Avalon television centre in
Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
It is New Zealand's sixth most ...
, with TV One broadcasting out of Avalon and TV2 broadcasting out of Auckland. However over the course of the 1980s, operations were gradually moved to Auckland. In 1989, TVNZ moved to a new television centre in central Auckland.
Broadcasting in New Zealand was
deregulated in 1989. Private broadcasters were allowed to operate in competition to TVNZ.
The
Broadcasting Act 1989 also established the organisation now called
NZ on Air
NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission ope ...
which funds public broadcasting and independent media production in New Zealand.
Role as public broadcaster
The
Labour-led government under
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
from 1999 to 2008 pursued a programme of public broadcasting reforms. New Zealand's wide-ranging adoption of
neoliberal policies in the mid-1980s and 1990s had large sections of the
state sector privatised. As a state owned enterprise, TVNZ enjoyed enormous commercial success (sustaining two-thirds of the overall audience share) and paid the Crown substantial dividends (over $250 million between 1989 and 1999). However, the commercial success had been achieved through an unabashed pursuit of ratings through populist and
tabloid
Tabloid may refer to:
* Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism
* Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size
** Chinese tabloid
* Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size
* Sopwith Tabloid, a biplane aircraft
* ''Ta ...
content, and prior to the 1999 election the National-led government was evidently positioning TVNZ for commercialisation Labour-led administrations since 1999 explicitly recognised the market failures of a wholly commercial broadcasting sector (e.g. saturation-level advertising, low levels of local content, heavy reliance on cheap imports and a disregard for quality genres and in-depth news and current affairs) and re-emphasised television's cultural and democratic functions in their policy thinking.
The Clark government's highest profile broadcasting reform to date was the restructuring of TVNZ as a
Crown entity
A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term '' Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act ...
in 2003. This introduced a dual remit whereby the broadcaster had to maintain its commercial performance (continuing dividend payments to the Crown) while simultaneously implementing a new public service Charter.
The TVNZ Charter would require the negotiation and reconciliation of potentially contradictory commercial and public service imperatives. The final version of the TVNZ Charter included a range of public service objectives and expectations.
However, this dual remit precluded any transformation of TVNZ into fully-fledged public service broadcaster, and TVNZ's efforts to balance its pursuit of commercial performance and Charter objectives were soon being criticised. Despite some investment in local content, including new documentaries and discussion programmes, the content on TV One and TV2 remained similar to the pre-charter schedules, with a continuing high proportion of light entertainment and
reality-TV shows.
TVNZ continues to pay dividends to the Crown. However, from 2006 until 2009 TVNZ received $15.11 million each year from Government to assist it with fulfilling Charter obligations. There was much debate about the initial secrecy surrounding funding allocations and the programmes supported. The allocation of $5 million toward coverage of the 2008 Olympics, the rights for which are secured by a competitive tender between broadcasters, was possibly the most controversial. In 2009 the Government gave control of that funding to funding agency
NZ On Air
NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission ope ...
. NZ On Air announced the creation of the contestable "Platinum Fund" in April 2009, setting aside the $15.11 million for high quality drama, documentary and other programme types. Following the election of a National Party-led government under
John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
in 2008, the Charter was abolished in favour of a return to the 1990s model of a full commercial broadcaster.
There is much debate on the future of TVNZ, which focuses on the nature of public service broadcasting and its commercial role. An example was in a memo called ''A More Public Broadcaster'' written by outgoing Chief Executive
Ian Fraser to the board of TVNZ in October 2005, was obtained and released by Green MP
Sue Kedgley
Susan Jane Kedgley (born 1948) is a New Zealand politician, food campaigner and author. Before entering politics Kedgley worked for the United Nations in New York for 8 years and for a decade as a television reporter, director and producer in N ...
. The memo outlined three (four) options.
These were:
* TV One as a fully non-commercial network, like
ABC in Australia, charged with delivering Charter values, and possibly merging with
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...
and
Māori Television
* TV One a semi-commercial broadcaster with no more than six minutes of advertisements an hour like
SBS in Australia
* TV One and TV2 remaining unchanged, but two new public service channels being broadcast via digital television.
* TV One and TV2 are now fully commercial with 15 – 20 minutes of ads per hour, plus ads overplayed over programs.
On 15 February 2006, a group of 31 prominent New Zealanders signed an open letter, published as a full-page newspaper advertisement, calling for better quality programmes and less advertising on TVNZ. These included mountaineer
Sir Edmund Hillary, and former
governors-general Sir Michael Hardie Boys and
Dame Catherine Tizard. However, they were accused of being out of touch and nostalgic for local programmes from the 1970s and 1980s, when New Zealand had only one or two TV channels. While the Broadcasting Minister,
Steve Maharey, ruled out turning TVNZ into an entirely non-commercial broadcaster, on 25 February 2006, he stated that the Labour Government was "pretty much settled" on the introduction of two new free-to-air, non-commercial channels available via digital television. One screening high-end international documentaries, re-runs of ''One News'' and minority programmes with a high local content, and another, primarily for children, screening serious drama and arts at night. These channels would eventually become known as TVNZ 7 and TVNZ 6 respectively.
Digital era
In early 2006, TVNZ purchased Harmonic branded
H.262 encoding equipment for the upcoming Freeview DTH service, which is an Electra 1000 on-the-fly video re-encoder.
On 14 November 2006, TVNZ announced plans to launch two commercial-free digital channels. The first, with the working title
TVNZ News 24
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 ...
, would feature news, sport and special interest content, and be launched in late 2007. This would be followed by a channel featuring children's, families', arts and documentary programming, with the working title of TVNZ Home, in early 2008. While 80 per cent of the programming would be local content, 70 per cent of this would consist of repeats from TVNZ's existing channels or its archive.
In April 2008, TVNZ made another purchase of more
H.264 encoding equipment for the upcoming Freeview HD DTT service, which are the Electra 7000 for HD and Electra 5400 for SD on-the-fly video re-encoders.
The proposal was criticised by
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to:
Television
*Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso
*Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala
*Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...
, which accused the Government of "bailing out" TVNZ and argued that the money would be better spent on new programming. Although
Sue Kedgely
Susan Jane Kedgley (born 1948) is a New Zealand politician, food campaigner and author. Before entering politics Kedgley worked for the United Nations in New York for 8 years and for a decade as a television reporter, director and producer in ...
welcomed the decision to make the channels (including children's programming) commercial-free, she accused the Government of tight-fistedness.
In late 2011, TVNZ and its pay-TV rival
Sky Network Television announced the joint venture ''
Igloo
An igloo (Inuit languages: , Inuktitut syllabics (plural: )), also known as a snow house or snow hut, is a type of shelter built of suitable snow.
Although igloos are often associated with all Inuit, they were traditionally used only ...
'', which is to provide a low-cost pay-TV service for households not currently covered by Freeview or Sky. ''Igloo'' closed in 2017.
In mid 2013, TVNZ changed its on-screen branding to a more flat, modern look.
TVNZ went fully digital in December 2013, with the accompanying shutdown of the analogue transmitters to free up spectrum for telecommunications use.
In January 2017 TVNZ launched their 'New Blood Web Series Competition' supported by NZ On Air. The competition is calling for aspiring content creators to submit a web series pilot episode. The winner will receive $100,000 to make a complete web series, which will launch through TVNZ's online channels.
Conflicts
In addition to debates over whether TVNZ should be a public broadcaster or a commercial one, there have been other controversies.
For 3 weeks in January–February 1999,
John Hawkesby became a weekday newsreader for One News, replacing
Richard Long (who moved to presenting weekend bulletins alongside Liz Gunn). The change was short-lived, and Hawkesby received a $5.2m payout.
In 2000, the Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled against TVNZ over inaccuracies in a news story about the drug Lyprinol, which was erroneously touted as a cure for cancer.
In 2004 current affairs veteran of 15 years
Paul Holmes sparked a public outcry after he referred to United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the found ...
as a "cheeky darkie" on his radio show on Newstalk ZB and subsequently chose not to renew his contract at TVNZ.
Also in 2004 there was the public outcry over newsreader
Judy Bailey's $800,000 salary package, negotiated with head of news and current affairs at TVNZ
Bill Ralston, she finished her final 12-month contract the following year after 34 years working at the broadcaster.
In late 2010, TVNZ garnered criticism over various comments made by ''Breakfast'' host
Paul Henry. Henry had referred to Delhi Commonwealth Games organiser
Sheila Dikshit as "the dip shit woman" and "Dick Shit", going on to state that "it's so appropriate, because she's Indian, so she'd be dick-in-shit wouldn't she, do you know what I mean? Walking along the street... she's just so funny, isn't she?"
Henry also questioned whether the
Governor-General of New Zealand
The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and ...
Anand Satyanand was "even a New Zealander", going on to ask, "Are you going to choose a New Zealander who looks and sounds like a New Zealander this time ... are we going to go for someone who is more like a New Zealander this time?"
Following widespread public complaints and official criticism, Henry was suspended from TVNZ for 2 weeks without pay, eventually resigning from the broadcaster. Henry's resignation polarised the New Zealand public, with supporters claiming he was a victim of
political correctness
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
, and critics accusing him of pandering to the
lowest common denominator.
Replacement proposal
Renewing previous debate about the role of TVNZ as a commercial broadcaster, the
Sixth Labour Government
The Sixth Labour Government has governed New Zealand since 26 October 2017. It is headed by Jacinda Ardern, the Labour Party leader and prime minister.
Following the 2017 general election held on 23 September, the New Zealand First party h ...
has announced a proposal to disestablish TVNZ and
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...
(RNZ) and establish a single public media entity. The television and radio broadcaster would have a public-service role to provide content on a variety of platforms, "some of which may be advertising free".
By mid-March 2021, the merger proposal was still in its early stages.
In late December 2021, former
National Party Member of Parliament
Simon Power was appointed as the chief executive of TVNZ. Power had recently stepped down as acting chief of Westpac Bank when the bank appointed Catherine McGrath as chief executive in November 2021. Power is scheduled to assume the position in March 2022.
In mid-June 2022, Broadcasting Minister
Willie Jackson introduced draft legislation to TVNZ and fellow public broadcaster
Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...
into a new non-profit autonomous Crown entity called
Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media (ANZPM), commencing 1 March 2023. Under the proposed legislation, both TVNZ and RNZ would become subsidiaries of the ANZPM, which would be supported by both government and commercial funding. The new organisation would also be headed by a board and be governed by a media charter outlining its goals and responsibilities including editorial independence. The Government has also allocated NZ$370m over four years in operating expenditure and $306m in capital funding from the
2022 New Zealand budget for funding the ANZPM.
Governance
Board of directors
The TVNZ Board is the governing board of Television New Zealand. It is appointed by the
Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, who is
Kris Faafoi. , the directors are: the chairperson
Dame Therese Walsh (Wellington), deputy chairperson Andy Coupe (Hamilton), Abby Foote (Christchurch), Cameron Harland (Lower Hutt), Toko Kapea (Wellington),
Kevin Malloy
Kevin Malloy (born 1965) is an advertising executive currently based in Auckland, New Zealand but with international roles.[Roger MacDonnell
Roger Lindsay MacDonnell is a New Zealand businessman who co-founded the advertising agency Colenso in 1969. The agency gained notoriety for Michael Wall's "Dancing Cossacks" ad for the National Party in 1975. MacDonnell retired from Colenso in 2 ...](_blank)
(2010-2016).
Charter
The
Fifth Labour Government introduced a "TVNZ Charter" in 2002. This was a list of objectives for TVNZ which specified it must broadcast a wide variety of New Zealand-made content; the broadcaster was given public responsibility to provide news, drama, documentaries and "promote understanding of the diversity of cultures".
In 2008 the Government announced that the broadcaster was to become "more public-service" like. TVNZ responded by launching two commercial free channels;
TVNZ 6 and
TVNZ 7. By 2011 Prime Minister
John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
announced the closure of these channels. 6 in 2011, and 7 in mid-2012, with much of their content put into
TVNZ Heartland and
TVNZ Kidzone24 which are only available behind a Sky TV paywall. The
Fifth National Government
Neville Chamberlain formed the Chamberlain war ministry in 1939 after declaring war on Germany. Chamberlain led the country for the first eight months of the Second World War, until the Norway Debate in Parliament led Chamberlain to resign a ...
abolished the Charter in 2011.
Political opponents accused the Government of reducing TVNZ's commitments as a public broadcaster.
Channels
TVNZ 1
TVNZ 1 is TVNZ's flagship channel. Launched on 1 June 1960, it has a broad range of programming, including news, sport, food, drama, and comedy. Its news service is ''
1 News
''1 News'' (stylised as ''1News'') is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The service is live television, broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6 pm news hour, but ''1 ...
'' and its sports division is ''
1 Sport
1 Sport is a division of TVNZ which airs many of the sports telecasts in New Zealand.
1 Sport broadcasts programs like ''The Championships, Wimbledon'', ''Commonwealth Games'', and the ''America's Cup''.
Past Sports Rights Held
They previously ...
''
The channel, once the traditional home of television sport, has since lost the rights to most of the world's main sporting events, including the Olympics, and
All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 198 ...
test matches to pay television competitor
Sky. TVNZ's outside broadcasting division, Moving Pictures was established in 1962. It provided the production facilities for such events with 8 outside broadcast trucks across the country. This wound up in the mid 2000s after then-Australian owned outside broadcaster Onsite Broadcasting started to expand and took the OB contract off Moving Pictures for the filming of major sports for Sky TV. OSB was then owned by Sky before it was sold to American OB provider
NEP. TVNZ 1 also broadcasts rural focused programmes such as ''Country Calendar'' and ''Rural Delivery'', Māori community presentations such as ''Waka Huia'', ''
Marae Investigates'' and ''
Te Karere
''Te Karere'' is a news and current affairs show that was New Zealand's first Māori language television programme. ''Te Karere'' is broadcast on Television New Zealand's TVNZ 1 at 3:55 pm on weekdays and repeated 1:05 am and 5:35 am the f ...
'', a daily
Te Reo news bulletin, and shows for minorities, such as ''Attitude'', ''Neighbourhood'', ''A Taste of Home'' and ''Tagata Pasifika''. Elsewhere TVNZ 1 specialises in food shows, including the locally produced ''MasterChef'', and international shows, mostly from the
BBC and
Network Ten Australia.
TVNZ 2
TVNZ 2 targets a younger audience than TVNZ 1. Launched on 30 June 1975, its line up consists of dramas, sitcoms, comedies, children's programming, and reality shows, most of which are produced in New Zealand or imported from the United States.
Locally produced content includes ''
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 ...
'', ''
Motorway Patrol'' and ''
What Now'', and international shows (which are predominantly American) include ''
The Big Bang Theory'', ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' and ''
The Walking Dead''. TVNZ 2 is sold by TVNZ as the "home of entertainment".
TVNZ Duke
TVNZ Duke was launched on 20 March 2016. It initially broadcast between the hours of 6pm and midnight, although it occasionally screened live sport events outside of these hours. On average, the channel broadcasts from 10.30am until late on weekdays, and from 7am until late on weekends. It screens programming for a male audience with comedy, drama and factual series such as ''
Two and a Half Men'', ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ...
'', ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', ''
Everybody Hates Chris'' and ''
River Monsters''. It also screens a number of sporting events such as the
Men's and
Women's
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as " women's rights" to denote female humans rega ...
Hockey Pro Leagues and the
Dream11 Super Smash domestic cricket tournament.
Timeshift channels
TVNZ broadcasts
timeshift channels of its three television channels. These broadcast the Auckland feed, delayed by one hour.
TVNZ 1+1 was launched on 1 July 2012, replacing
TVNZ 7.
TVNZ 2+1 was launched on 1 September 2013, replacing
TVNZ U.
TVNZ Duke+1 was launched on 17 November 2020.
Other services
Internationally, TVNZ has helped provide television services in
Pacific Island
Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one ...
nations such as the
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, langu ...
,
Fiji, and the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...
. While TVNZ provides much of the programming, scheduling and
continuity are done locally.
Because of its history TVNZ has inherited and developed its own services in the production and broadcasting services area. These include The New Zealand Television Archive, production facilities, television school.
TVNZ Archive
The TVNZ Archive collection contains over 600,000 hours of television spanning almost 55 years of New Zealand's public television history.
It includes iconic New Zealand content such as documentaries, dramas, sports programmes
and every TVNZ news broadcast from December 1986 to 2014.
In a 2014 briefing to Minister Craig Foss, the
Ministry for Culture and Heritage noted that the long-term preservation of the TVNZ Archive collection did not align with broadcaster's business needs and that transferring the collection to the Crown would allow for the proper preservation of the collection.
Both the Ministry and TVNZ explicitly wanted to ensure the archive was preserved and that it was made increasingly available for re-use through online streaming and other means.
On 1 August 2014 guardianship of the archive collection was transferred to the Crown.
Budget 2014 included $24.4 million to facilitate the transfer and ongoing management of the archive. Of that, $11.32 million was for the purchase of the TVNZ Archive facility at Avalon – including land, building, fixtures, fittings and plant. $5.066 million was for the depreciation and capital charge of the facility, and $8 million (spread over four years) was for the ongoing management of the archive.
The building and land were transferred to the
Department of Internal Affairs
The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), or in te reo Māori, is the public service department of New Zealand charged with issuing passports; administering applications for citizenship and lottery grants; enforcing censorship and gambling law ...
and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage took over guardianship of the collection.
The Ministry appointed
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision as the initial archive manager.
TVNZ+
TVNZ+ is Television New Zealand's on-demand streaming platform, TVNZ OnDemand was launched 20 March 2007, and is available on
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
and
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
via the TVNZ app on
PlayStation Network
PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smar ...
for New Zealanders. It is also available on FreeviewPlus, iOS, Android, Xbox One and Windows 10. The content uses
geotargeting for New Zealand only connections via a US-based
Brightcove media company using the
Akamai RTMP network, with some local content being made available to an international audience via their YouTube channel. At the end of 2012, the contract with
Brightcove was expanded to include streaming to iOS devices via the
Akamai HLS network. From 2012, TVNZ OnDemand began uploading episodes of select shows prior to their airing on TVNZ channels and usually within a day of their original overseas airings (although sometimes this was weeks or months after their international airing). In September 2014, it was announced that episodes of seventeen shows would be uploaded within a day of their airings in the US, coinciding with the 2014–2015 season. One of the shows, ''
Manhattan Love Story
''Manhattan Love Story'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by Jeff Lowell, who also served as an executive producer alongside Peter Traugott, Robin Schwartz, Rachel Kaplan, and Jon Liebman for ABC Studios. The series aired ...
'' was cancelled by the US network ABC, but episodes continued to be uploaded to TVNZ OnDemand in line with their intended US airings, making TVNZ the de facto original broadcaster of the series. On 1 May 2016 (01.06 am), when TVNZ Kidzone (channel version) closed it is now on TVNZ OnDemand with lot of the shows to watch (it is still use the former channel programs). On June 13th the service rebranded to TVNZ+ after on Friday 10 TVNZ sent an email out to staff saying "exciting upgrade coming for TVNZ OnDemand."
Teletext
TVNZ began a
teletext
A British Ceefax football index page from October 2009, showing the three-digit page numbers for a variety of football news stories
Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipp ...
service in 1984 originally with the intention to help New Zealand's deaf community get improved access to news and information. A captioning service was available for certain television shows and could be accessed by browsing to page 801. The TVNZ Teletext service could be received on all TVNZ channels and the TVNZ service could be received on
TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to:
Television
*Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso
*Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala
*Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...
including captioning of some TV3 shows.
Trackside also operated a Teletext service called TAB Text which only displayed the racing pages of Teletext.
A Teletext capable television was usually required to receive Teletext. With the arrival of digital television services such as Freeview, Teletext could be received through a Freeview decoder. In this case captions were normally accessed by subtitle button on a Freeview remote.
In December 2012, TVNZ announced the closure of their Teletext service from 3 April 2013. The captioning service would however continue to be available. TVNZ cited the reasons for the closure due to a decline in use particularly since most services are now available from the TVNZ website or other websites.
TiVo
On 26 March 2009 TVNZ announced that it had acquired a 33% stake in
Hybrid Television Services
, 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 ...
(67% owned by Australia's Seven Media Group). Hybrid TV is the exclusive licensee of
TiVo products in Australia and New Zealand. On the same day it was announced that TiVo would be arriving in New Zealand by Christmas 2009 (Hybrid launched it in Australia in July 2008).
The TiVo service was discontinued on 31 October 2017.
Discontinued services
Between 1995 and 1997, TVNZ operated a network of regional TV stations under the '
Horizon Pacific' name and through a subsidiary called Horizon Pacific Television. Its broadcast content included
BBC World and NZ documentary programming. The network consisted of newly formed stations ATV 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 I ...
, Coast to Coast in
Hamilton, Capital Television 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 m ...
and Southern Television in
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 ...
. TVNZ subsequently also purchased
CTV
CTV may refer to:
Television
* Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet
North America and South America
* CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media
** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
, based in Christchurch. CTV continues to broadcast, but is no longer owned by TVNZ.
Horizon Pacific was replaced by a local 'free to air' version of the music video channel
MTV, based on MTV's UK service and local programming, although the channel was dropped in 1998. Prior to MTV's demise, TVNZ had bought the channel's competitor, ''
Max TV''.
TVNZ also operated a satellite services division organising and downlink facilities and across the globe, but this service was wound down in 2005.
TVNZ operated
TVNZ 6 from 2007 to 2011. TVNZ 6 was a digital-only, commercial-free television channel. It was available in 60.3% of New Zealand homes on the Freeview and Sky Television Digital platforms. TVNZ 6 was on air daily from 6 am to midnight.
TVNZ 7 was launched in March 2008 and was a commercial-free news and information channel. It was available via the Freeview and Sky platforms. The New Zealand Government, under Prime Minister
John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...
and Broadcasting Minister
Jonathan Coleman decided to discontinue funding for TVNZ 7. The final broadcast ended at midnight on 30 June 2012. TVNZ 7 was replaced with time shift channel TV One Plus 1 (now TVNZ 1 +1).
TVNZ launched
U on 13 March 2011. U was a 24-hour youth orientated channel available via both Freeview and Sky. TVNZ U was launched to fill the gap when TVNZ 6 closed in 2011. TVNZ U specialised in musical tastes, reality, gaming, fashion and informative youth orientated documentaries.
On 29 July 2013, TVNZ announced that the channel would be closed on 31 August 2013 and be replaced by a time shift channel, TV2+1 (now TVNZ 2 +1).
TVNZ Heartland was a pay-TV channel that launched on the Sky Television platform on 1 June 2010. It was TVNZ's first channel available exclusively on a pay-TV platform and featured 100% New Zealand made programming, mostly sourced from the TVNZ archives. The channel closed in May 2015.
TVNZ ceased delivering its Pacific Service in October 2015. The service was taken over by Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited, who expanded the service in February 2016 as Pasifika TV. The service became a collaboration of all major New Zealand broadcasters, as opposed to just TVNZ. The transition of the service meant that it was now funded by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the objectives were broadened beyond supplying content, to focus on strengthening partnerships in the Pacific by building capacity and capabilities amongst the respective Pacific free to air broadcasters.
Transmission network
High Definition
TVNZ has offered HD broadcasts since July/August 2008, when the
2008 Summer Olympics were broadcast in High Definition. The service is offered on the Freeview, HD platform, using DVB-T transmission. Only TV One and TV2 are offered in HD, and the majority of programming is still up-converted from Standard Definition. From 1 July 2009 the HD versions of TV One and TV2 became available to Sky TV subscribers who have the MySky HDi decoders. Content on the HD versions of TV One and 2 are the same as the Standard Definition versions however when watching certain shows that broadcast in High Definition the HD logo is displayed next to the channel logo, this logo is not seen when watching the same show on the Standard Definition versions of TV1 and 2.
TVNZ has adopted
1080i as their HD broadcast format.
Kordia, formerly BCL, TVNZ's transmission partner
TVNZ's transmission network is operated by
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 ...
, formerly a subsidiary of TVNZ known as ''Broadcast Communications Limited'' until 2006. The company owns and operates the terrestrial transmission network used for broadcast of all major terrestrial television networks in New Zealand, including
Discovery New Zealand. and
Prime Television – TVNZ's major competitors, along with other voice and data telecommunications services.
Geographic history
TVNZ's primary television channel TV One is provided as four distinct terrestrial feeds, localising to viewers within and around the Auckland, Waikato, Wellington and Christchurch regions. Localised satellite feeds were made available in 2010 to channel-locked SD receivers. Localised content currently only consists of targeted regional advertising spots toward the end of a commercial break. Localised regional news programming was discontinued in the late 1980s and all localised versions for TV2 were discontinued in the early 2000s in favour of only national advertising.
TVNZ's predecessor,
NZBC
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 ...
started as distinct stations in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Nationwide networked services were first introduced in July 1969 to broadcast 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, a ...
landing footage, flown in specially from Australia, from Wellington simultaneously across all stations. However, the network was still incomplete, and in some places, outside broadcast vans were strategically placed to temporarily complete missing links. The network was fully completed in November that year.
The national television network consisted of
microwave links linking the major transmitters via intermediate repeaters. In 1985, the microwave network extended from Maungataniwha in Northland to Obelisk in Central Otago via Auckland, Waikato, Taupo, Hawke's Bay (with a spur to Gisborne), Manawatu (with a spur to Taranaki), Wairarapa, Wellington, Marlborough (with a spur to Nelson and the West Coast), Canterbury, Dunedin and Southland.
Broadcast relay station
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tra ...
s served areas off the microwave network.
TVNZ also used to run
telethons up until 1990 at locations around the country, viewers would be shown full coverage of the Telethon nearest their location. Originally when TVNZ began broadcasting TV One and TV2 on Sky Digital at the end of 2001 viewers would see only nationwide or Auckland advertisements when watching these channels through the Sky Digital service. In 2004 this was expanded to show one of three feeds for regional advertising spots targeting Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch with viewers outside of these regions seeing advertisements from the closest region. This was again dropped in March 2007 with a return to only nationwide advertising on TVNZ channels on Sky Digital before being reintroduced through the Freeview SD service. Regional advertising spots are only shown on TV One on both Digital and Analogue platforms however those that receive the HD version of TV One through their HD receiver will only see Auckland advertisements. Standard DVB satellite receivers will scan in all versions to be selected by the viewer.
Wellington-based
Avalon Studios, long a nucleus of TV production in New Zealand, was finally put up for sale by TVNZ in 2011, with most of its remaining shows relocating to Auckland, completing a trend of northward drift by the broadcaster.
TV production was spread evenly around the country in the 1970s, but according to Wellington-based TV personalities, the drift to Auckland began in 1980 with the formation of TVNZ, and the subsequent relocation of the TV One newsroom and headquarters to Auckland under then Prime Minister
Rob Muldoon.
In Christchurch, the original TVNZ studios were located at Gloucester Street in the NZBC owned building used to broadcast
3YA and
3ZB. A 14-storey building was also built on Worcester Street as studios for various TVNZ shows, notable shows to be filmed here included ''
What Now'' and ''
The Son of a Gunn Show
''The Son of a Gunn Show'' was a New Zealand after-school, children's television show, hosted by Jason Gunn, that aired on TVNZ from 1992, to the final episode in 1995. It was produced in the Christchurch TVNZ Building and finished when the pr ...
''. In 1998 TVNZ closed its Christchurch studios. What Now was moved to the Wellington-based Avalon Studios for a few years but moved back to Christchurch to be filmed at the privately owned Whitebait studios. Prior to the
2011 Christchurch earthquake on 22 February, the Worcester Street building continued to house Christchurch radio stations previously owned by
RNZ
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...
and now owned by
NZME (formerly The Radio Network); stations included Newstalk ZB, Classic Hits 97.7 and 91ZM. The Gloucester Street building remained as Christchurch based newsroom for TVNZ until the building was badly damaged in the quake, and has since been demolished. The Worcester Street building was
demolished on 5 August 2012 by implosion.
The Dunedin studios were used to film many iconic shows, such as ''
Play School
Play School or Playschool may refer to:
Television
* ''Play School'' (British TV series), a BBC production aimed at preschool children
* ''Play School'' (Australian TV series), an Australian Broadcasting Corporation production based on the Briti ...
'',
''University Challenge'',
''Beauty and the Beast'', and
''Spot On''. When TVNZ scaled back its Dunedin studios in 1989, they were purchased by
Ian Taylor, the founder of
Animation Research
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
and Taylormade Media.
DVB-S availability
TV One, TV2 and the hour delayed versions are available "in the clear" over
DVB-S
Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite (DVB-S) is the original DVB standard for Satellite Television and dates from 1995, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997. The first commercial applications was by Star TV in Asia ...
on
Optus D1 as standard definition only. A Sky set-top box is not required, any satellite set-top box or tuner will work. However the high definition versions on DVB-S2 are scrambled and require a Sky Television H.264 set-top box such as MySky, which costs the price of a basic subscription plus addition MySky rental fee.
Civil Defence
TVNZ's functions are subject to ''
lifeline utility requirements'' under NZ
civil defence
Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...
legislation.
In practice, this status as a lifeline utility requires TVNZ to be able to function at least to a reduced level after an emergency, and to provide advice to civil defence authorities when requested.
Details prior to December 2013 digital switchover
Technical notes
New Zealand uses
PAL B (7 MHz channel spacing) on
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
, and
PAL G (8 MHz channel spacing) on
UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
.
* While Australia also uses PAL B on VHF, the frequency allocations of NZ differ somewhat from Australia.
* Australia uses PAL B (7 MHz channel spacing) for UHF, so most UHF channels are on different frequencies.
* For stereo sound New Zealand uses
NICAM on a non-standard offset from the monaural FM audio signal, while Australia uses the standard European offset for
A2 Stereo. With NICAM being a digital signal, it has a higher chance of drop out over distance and from interference than A2 Stereo.
* Because of these differences, some Australian TV sets (when taken to NZ) are only capable of mono sound reproduction, and many VHF channels may not be received (properly) or come in at all.
* TVNZ (for historical and technical reasons) uses the greatest number of
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
frequencies in New Zealand.
NICAM stereo
New Zealand has a near nationwide implementation of
NICAM stereo sound for TV One and TV2.
NICAM stereo was first made available on TV2 in the
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 I ...
region in 1989, also during the early 1990s
Simulated Stereo
A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
was available 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 m ...
on TV2. NICAM stereo was not rolled out to the rest of the country or onto TV One until 1996 and for some regions (such as Southland) NICAM was not available until 2001. Rival network Three has offered NICAM stereo in all available regions since its launch in 1989; this is also the case with Prime TV. Stereo sound is available on all TVNZ channels if accessed through Sky Digital or Freeview.
Competitors
TVNZ's major competitors in the television market are
*
Warner Bros. Discovery's
Three,
Bravo,
Eden
Eden may refer to:
* Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis
Places and jurisdictions
Canada
* Eden, Ontario
* Eden High School
Middle East
* Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric
* Camp Eden, Iraq
O ...
and
Rush
*
Sky's
Prime
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only way ...
*
Māori Television
New Zealand shows
References
Sources
Chief outlines 'major problem at TVNZThe New Zealand Herald, 13 December 2005, retrieved 3 January 2006.
TVNZ Annual Report for 2005Retrieved 3 January 2006
Retrieved 4 January 2006
TVNZ Corporate Brochure 2005Retrieved 3 January 2006
External links
*
{{Authority control
Television networks in New Zealand
Television channels and stations established in 1980
New Zealand crown entity companies
New Zealand news websites
Companies based in Auckland
State media