| Country | New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | New Zealand |
| Headquarters | Waitangi, Chatham Islands |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Chatham Islands Radio and Television Society, Inc. |
| History | |
| Launched | 22 May 1991 [1] |
| Closed | February 2002 |
Chatham Islands Television was a volunteer-run television station broadcasting to the Chatham Islands. It began broadcasting in 1991 and received significant funding from New Zealand On Air during its operation. It is believed that the station shut down in 2002, when funding ended.
The first live television appearance of the islands happened at the very end of 1989, when a Japanese television crew flew there to record the first sunrise of the world in the 1990s from Manukau Point. [2] At the same time, the newly-formed funding body New Zealand On Air showed keen interest in a local television station there, providing NZ$200,000 for that purpose; the operational costs were included as part of its Remote Transmission Coverage funds. [3] The signal was fed from TVNZ's Pacific Services, which had already provided its content to TV Niue and Cook Islands Television, both being national channels of the free associated states of New Zealand. [4]
Chatham Islands Television started broadcasting on 22 May [1] 1991 [2] as part of one of several lottery grants for the development of the infrastructure of the islands. [5] The introduction of television also coincided with the implementation of direct dial telephones. [2] CITV had a central transmitter and five relays in order to ensure total coverage in the islands. [5] In addition to lottery grants, NZ On Air and TVNZ (through its Pacific Services unit) [1] had a fundamental role in its development, when the funding agency made an unusual subsidy worth NZ$220,000 to cover the delivery of airlifted taped programmes and satellite equipment. [6]
A 1995 profile from The Independent showed that the station opened at 5pm and ended at 11pm. The bulk of the programmes were videotapes obtained weekly from mainland New Zealand, though this delivery was not possible every week due to potential occasional limitations. The only regular programme seen live from satellite was One Network News at 6:45pm local time. Instead of commercial advertising, it carried a service where viewers could type their own advertisements and messages. The remainder of the programming consisted of imports, including The Bill and Knight Rider . [2] By 1997, as profiled in a Kiwi Winners segment, the station was manned by a team of seven volunteers, while the most popular programmes according to the station's manager were "probably Blue Heelers , Water Rats and the news, definetly". [5]
By August 1996, the islands were served by Sky's satellite service. [7] One of its subscribers by September 1998 was a fishing traveler from the islands. [8]
In August 1997, TV One's airtime of Coronation Street changed, meaning that it was not covered by the five-hour programming window CITV had. Islanders even made a petition to restore the soap to its previous airtime, much like what happened in the mainland. [9]
In April 1998, Sky threatened legal action against the unauthorised use of its satellite service, which was seen as an alternative to CITV, and that it only rebroadcast programmes from TV One and TV2. Locals were watching rugby matches from Sky Sport without a subscription, which led to legal action from the subscription TV company. Moreover, the video packages flown in from the mainland did include rugby matches, but these were shown at a later time, only after TVNZ aired them. [10]
NZ On Air could not afford a six-and-a-half-hour service for the islands; in 1999, it had been reduced to approximately four-and-a-quarter hours, while the operating sum was cut to just NZ$159,000. [6] An alternative to the counterfeit Sky broadcasts was suggested in May 1999 where NZ On Air suggested the creation of a composite 24-hour Chathams Channel, at the annual cost of NZ$105,000; its programming was a mix of key shows and events carried by Sky's sixteen channels. [11] The decision to create the channel was applauded by the funding body and was seen as a cost-effective alternative to the existing service, and that also met its criteria. [12]
In October 1999, the station aired a portion of an erotic film by mistake; one of the volunteers, Lea Clough, thought it was the movie Amistad . The only complaint was an immediate one from a viewer who wanted it to be on again. [13]
The station made international headlines throughout December 1999 when the Australian branch of international advertising agency Euro RCSG created a 90-second spot that CITV would air from one second midnight on 1 January 2000. The agency saw the islands's timezone (UTC+12:45) as being advantageous, as well as being the first part of the world to see in the new year and the new millennium, to carry such a commercial. [14] It was priced at US$15,000 and featured notable firsts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, accompanied by Judy Garland's rendition of Over the Rainbow and ending with the messages “The world belongs to those who dare to be first” and “You have been watching the first commercial of the millennium”. By then, foreign outlets were reporting that the station's airtime fell to just three hours a day. [15] For the station's millennium coverage, manager-volunteer Tom Brown converted a garage into a makeshift television studio. [16]
Funding from NZ On Air ended by February 2002, leading to the end of the station. [6] The funding body justified its rationale on the arrival of TV One and TV2 to the Sky platform. With the termination of the funding agreement, the Chatham Islands Television & Radio Society became responsible for television broadcasts there. [17] Tom Brown, the volunteer who set up the station, was honoured the following month. [18] As of year-end 2001, 180 residents received Sky, while 74 were dependent on CITV. [16]
The volunteer company was ultimately dissolved on 12 May 2005, after three years of inactivity. [19]