The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a state-owned company established by the New Zealand Government in 1962. Under the Broadcasting Act 1976, the NZBC was restructured as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ).[1] The NZBC was dissolved on 1 April 1975 and replaced by three separate entities: Radio New Zealand, Television One, and Television Two, which was later renamed South Pacific Television. In 1980, the two television channels merged to form Television New Zealand, while Radio New Zealand continued as a standalone organisation.
The NZBC had its headquarters in Broadcasting House on Bowen Street, Wellington, behind the parliamentary buildings. Construction of the building began in 1959, and it was opened in 1963. After 1975, the premises were occupied by Radio New Zealand.[2][3]
At 7:30 pm on 1 June 1960, New Zealand's first television channel, AKTV2, began broadcasting in Auckland from the NZBC building at 74 Shortland Street. The building had previously housed the public radio station 1YA and is now home to the University of Auckland's Gus Fisher Gallery. The channel was originally owned and operated by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service.
With the passage of the Broadcasting Corporation Act 1961, the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was established, with F. J. Llewellyn appointed chairman. The Corporation formally came into operation on 1 April 1962. During the Bill's passage through the House of Representatives, provision was made for privately owned broadcasting stations, despite strong opposition from the Labour Party.
Expansion of services
On taking office, the Corporation assumed responsibility for 35 radio stations and four television stations. By November 1964, sound radio licences exceeded 600,000, while television licences totalled 275,000. Annual income exceeded NZ£5,000,000, of which more than NZ£250,000 was paid in taxation.[4]
Initially, the four television stations were not linked, and programmes had to be physically shipped between centres. Urgent news footage could be transmitted between two stations on each island using Post Office Telephone Department (now Chorus) coaxial toll lines, but this was too costly for regular programming.[citation needed]
The Wahine disaster (1968)
The limitations of the unlinked facilities were highlighted on 10 April 1968, when the inter-island ferry TEVWahine sank in Wellington Harbour. Newscasts from WNTV1 had to be transmitted over Post Office lines to AKTV2 in Auckland. Severe weather disrupted shipping and flights for more than 24 hours, delaying delivery of footage to the South Island.
The first video of the disaster reached Blenheim, where a local reporter filmed the broadcast directly from a private television set. The exposed film was rushed to Christchurch for development and then transmitted via CHTV3 and DNTV2. This Blenheim recording is believed to be the only surviving footage from the first day of the disaster.
Apollo 11 and network development (1969)
By July 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission, the North and South Islands each had microwave network capability, but the Cook Strait link had not yet been completed, and New Zealand still lacked an international broadcast connection. Footage of the Moon landing was recorded at the Australian Broadcasting Commission's ABN-2 in Sydney, flown by an RNZAFEnglish Electric Canberra to Wellington, and broadcast on WNTV1.[5]
To deliver the footage to the South Island, the NZBC positioned one of its first outside broadcasting vans to beam the signal across Cook Strait to a receiving dish, from where it was relayed through the South Island network. The Cook Strait link was completed later in 1969. The first NZBC Network News was broadcast on 3 November 1969, read by Dougal Stevenson.[6]
Microwave network
The NZBC's microwave system was assembled in an improvised manner. Due to limited equipment, "off-air" relays were often used, where a 100kW regional transmitter was received and then re-broadcast by another. This allowed signals to be relayed across the country but required manual or tone-based switching.
During network news bulletins from Wellington, contributions from Auckland were indicated by a small white "A" on screen, prompting transmitters nationwide to switch. A "W" was used for returning to Wellington. Viewers would see a brief black screen during these switches, and errors in sequencing sometimes resulted in video feedback being broadcast.
Satellite communications (1971)
With the opening of the Warkworth satellite station in 1971, New Zealand gained international broadcast capability. The first live satellite transmission received was the Melbourne Cup on 2 November 1971.[7]
The introduction of a second television channel in 1975 led to a major reorganisation of broadcasting in New Zealand. On 1 April 1975, the NZBC was dissolved and replaced by three separate state-owned corporations: Television One, Television Two, and Radio New Zealand.
The existing NZBC television service became Television One (TV One), based at the Avalon Television Centre in Lower Hutt, which was officially opened on 17 March 1975. TV One began transmission on 1 April 1975, using the WNTV1 and DNTV2 studios along with existing channel frequencies.
The new channel, Television Two (TV2), launched later in the year on 30 June 1975. It was based at the former AKTV2 studios on Shortland Street in Auckland and the CHTV3 studios in Christchurch, and broadcast on newly allocated frequencies.
In 1980, Television One and South Pacific Television (by then once again operating as Television Two) were merged to form a single organisation, Television New Zealand (TVNZ).
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