Horizon Pacific Television

Last updated

Horizon Pacific Television
Country New Zealand
Broadcast areaNew Zealand
Headquarters Auckland, New Zealand
Programming
Picture format 4:3
Ownership
Owner Television New Zealand, Ltd.
Sister channels
History
Launched19 March 1995;29 years ago (1995-03-19)
ClosedJune 30, 1997 (1997-06-30)

Horizon Pacific Television was a network of four regional television stations operated by Television New Zealand from 1995 to 1997, with services in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin on the UHF band. The service carried a mix of local programmes and relays of BBC World. It was later shut down and replaced by a time-shifted feed of MTV Europe with local inserts.

Contents

History

Horizon Pacific Television started on 19 March 1995 (Sunday) at 3pm [1] as part of a diversification of TVNZ's business units post-deregulation. [2] It was created following criticisms regarding the lack of regional programming on TVNZ's channels, and competed against established local services such as Max TV, Mainland Television and Eastland Television. [3]

The network was composed of the following stations:

These stations were joined by a fifth, Christchurch's Canterbury Television, which was an independent television station, in November 1995. [4]

In 1997, Television New Zealand announced that it was going to withdraw the operations of Horizon Pacific due to a lack of financial sustainability to continue. [3] TVNZ replaced it with MTV, which was seen as a more "competitive" alternative. [3] [5] MTV would eventually become unprofitable and shut down less than a year later. [6]

The shutdown led to redundancies at TVNZ, some of which were compensated for gaining new jobs at TVNZ's news and current affairs division. [7]

Programming

At launch, Horizon Pacific carried news bulletins from BBC World, documentaries, drama series (such as Hill Street Blues ), lifestyle and musical programming, as well as local programmes. [1] From its launch day, BBC World began being carried overnight on TV One instead of closing down. [1]

Although the channel pledged "regional public service television", critics of the service called the supposed statement of the service as an "oxymoron" due to the abundance of foreign content. [3]

After closing, its imported output moved to TV One. [7]

Related Research Articles

A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or, in the United States, multichannel video programming distributors. Until the mid-1980s, broadcast programming on television in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of terrestrial networks. Many early television networks such as the BBC, CBC, PBS, PTV, NBC or ABC in the US and in Australia evolved from earlier radio networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television in New Zealand</span>

Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960 as a state-run service. The broadcasting sector was deregulated in 1989, when the Government allowed competition to the state-owned Television New Zealand (TVNZ). There are currently three forms of broadcast television: a terrestrial (DVB-T) service provided by Freeview; as well as satellite (DVB-S) and internet streaming (IPTV) services provided nationwide by both Freeview and Sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TVNZ</span> New Zealand state-owned television network

Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a television network that is broadcast throughout New Zealand and parts of the Pacific region. All of its currently-operating channels are free-to-air and commercially funded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio New Zealand</span> Public-service radio broadcast network

Radio New Zealand, 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 current-affairs network, RNZ National, and a classical-music and jazz network, RNZ Concert, with full government funding from NZ On Air. Since 2014, the organisation's focus has been to transform RNZ from a radio broadcaster to a multimedia outlet, increasing its production of digital content in audio, video, and written forms.

Three, stylised as +HR=E, is a New Zealand nationwide television channel. Launched on 26 November 1989 as TV3, it was New Zealand's first privately owned television channel. The channel currently broadcasts nationally in digital free-to-air form via the state-owned Kordia on terrestrial and satellite. Vodafone also carries the channel for their cable subscribers in Wellington and Christchurch. It previously broadcast nationally on analogue television until that was switched off on 1 December 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio in New Zealand</span>

Radio broadcasting began in New Zealand in 1922, and is now dominated by almost thirty radio networks and station groups. The Government has dominated broadcasting since 1925, but through privatisation and deregulation has allowed commercial talk and music stations to reach large audiences. New Zealand also has several radio stations serving Māori tribes, Pasifika communities, ethnic minorities, evangelical Christians and special interests.

<i>1 News</i> News division of TVNZ of New Zealand

1News is the news division of New Zealand television network TVNZ. The programme is broadcast live from TVNZ Centre in Auckland. The flagship news bulletin is the nightly 6pm news hour, but 1News also has late night news bulletins, as well as current affairs shows such as Breakfast and Seven Sharp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sky Open (TV channel)</span> New Zealand free-to-air television network

Sky Open is a New Zealand free-to-air television network. It airs a varied mix of programming, largely imported from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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 dissolved on 1 April 1975, and replaced by three separate organisations: Radio New Zealand, Television One, and Television Two, later known as South Pacific Television. The television channels would merge again in 1980 to become Television New Zealand, while Radio New Zealand remained unchanged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channel 39 (New Zealand TV channel)</span> Television channel

Channel 39, also known as Southern Television, was a regional television station operating in Dunedin, New Zealand. The channel was a division of Allied Press, who also publish the local daily newspaper Otago Daily Times. In December 2023, it was announced that Channel 39 would close by Christmas 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TVNZ 1</span> New Zealand television channel

TVNZ 1 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, 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. The network was renamed Television One 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 merged. The channel assumed its current name in October 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TVNZ 2</span> New Zealand television channel

TVNZ 2 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 consists of dramas, comedies, and reality TV shows. A small number are produced in New Zealand which are either of a comedic, soap opera or reality nature, with rest of the line-up taken from international catalogues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTV (New Zealand TV channel)</span> Television channel

MTV New Zealand was a 24-hour general television entertainment channel operated by MTV Networks International. The channel launched on 18 August 2006. From its launch MTV New Zealand employed 23 people at its headquarters in Auckland. MTV New Zealand was replaced with MTV Australia 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.

Freeview is New Zealand's free-to-air television platform. It is operated by a joint venture between the country's major free-to-air broadcasters – government-owned Television New Zealand and Radio New Zealand, government-subsidised Whakaata Māori, and the American-owned Warner Bros. Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TVNZ 7</span> New Zealand television channel

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 launch two additional channels. The channel went to air just after 10 am on 25 March 2008 with a looped preview reel. The channel was officially launched at noon on 30 March 2008 with a special "kingmaker" political debate held within the Parliament building and featuring most of the elected minor party leaders. The channel went off air at midnight on 30 June 2012 to the Goodnight Kiwi.

TVNZ+, formerly known as TVNZ OnDemand, is an over-the-top New Zealand television and video on demand streaming service offered by TVNZ. It offers a variety of free content, such as news updates and programmes seen on TVNZ channels. TVNZ+ offers most of the programmes broadcast on air with licensing agreements to be shown for users in New Zealand. In addition, it offers dozens of local and international titles exclusively available on the platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass media in New Zealand</span>

The mass media in New Zealand include television stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and websites. Media conglomerates like NZME, Stuff, MediaWorks, Discovery and Sky dominate the media landscape. Most media organisations operate Auckland-based newsrooms with Parliamentary Press Gallery reporters and international media partners, but most broadcast programmes, music and syndicated columns are imported from the United States and United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MediaWorks New Zealand</span> New Zealand-based radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media company

MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand-based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media. It is jointly owned by U.S. company Oaktree Capital Management and out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates eight national radio brands, eleven websites and one locally operated radio station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DNTV2</span> Local TV station in Dunedin, New Zealand

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 occupied by NHNZ which has since moved to a larger facility in Melville Street. Garrison Hall remains a television production hub to this day, it is now home to Animation Research, Taylormade Media, The Video Factory and Kahawai Productions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 New Zealand Listener , 17-23 March 1995
  2. "Lots of growth in Kiwi land". Variety. 3 April 1995. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Television New Zealand's Charter: The struggle between social responsabilities and commercial imperatives". Auckland University of Technology . 2003. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  4. "Horizon Pacific cleared to acquire CTV". Commerce Commission of New Zealand. 9 November 1995. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  5. Waikato Times , 27 June 1997, p.17
  6. The Press, 30 May 1998
  7. 1 2 "TVNZ Repositions Channels". Television New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1998-01-23. Retrieved 8 June 2024.