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 two forms of broadcast television: a terrestrial (DVB-T) service provided by Freeview; and satellite services provided nationwide by both Freeview and Sky.
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.
Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel provider to New Zealand IPTV provider Vodafone. As at 30 June 2021, Sky had 955,168 subscribers consisting of 561,989 satellite subscribers and 393,179 streaming subscribers. Despite the similarity of name, branding and services, such as Sky Go and MySky shared with its European equivalent, Sky, there is no connection between the companies.
Prime 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.
ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, police shows, cult classic films such as James Bond, US comedies and dramas, and classic ITV action series of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
TVNZ 1 is the first national television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It was one of the major television broadcasters in New Zealand, starting out from 1960 onwards as independent government-operated facilities in the four main centres of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, and eventually began sharing programming between them all in real time in 1969, becoming NZBC TV. The collective group 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.
Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as well as Fox Sports News, Fox Cricket, Fox League, Fox Footy, Fox Netball, Watch AFL and Watch NRL. Fox Sports channels are available via Foxtel or Kayo. The groups main competitors are beIN Sports, ESPN, Optus Sport and Stan Sports. Unlike Fox Sports the group is not owned directly by the Fox Corporation. However News Corp which holds a 65% stake in Foxtel is Fox Corporation's sister company.
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 Māori Television, and the American-owned Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand. It consists of a HD-capable digital terrestrial television service, to around 86% of the population in the major urban and provincial centres of New Zealand, and a standard-definition satellite television service, called Freeview Satellite, covering the whole of mainland New Zealand and the major offshore islands. Freeview uses the DVB-S and DVB-T standards on government-provided spectrum.
1 Sport is a division of TVNZ which airs many of the sports telecasts in New Zealand.
This article refers to sports broadcasting contracts in New Zealand. For a list of other countries' broadcasting rights, see Sports television broadcast contracts.
Sky Sport is a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by New Zealand's satellite pay-TV company, Sky.
BT Sport ESPN is a British pay television sports channel provided by BT Consumer; a division of BT Group under licence from American sports broadcaster ESPN Inc. The channel was operated by ESPN from 3 August 2009 to 31 July 2013, when it was sold to BT and became part of its BT Sport package. The channel focuses on coverage of American sports, in particular Major League Baseball (MLB) and American College sports, but BT also uses it to show European sport when BT Sport 1, 2 & 3 are otherwise engaged.
Fox Soccer Plus is an American sports channel dedicated to soccer and rugby league. Launched in 2005 by the Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports to offer live and tape-delayed mainstream sports events in the United States and Caribbean, it was rebranded on March 1, 2010 as a spin-off of the now-defunct Fox Soccer after its owner News Corporation acquired the channel and its coverage rights from Setanta in January 2010.
U was an interactive youth-oriented New Zealand television channel, owned and operated by TVNZ. The channel launched on 13 March 2011, and featured reality programming, as well as an interactive live show and music content. It replaced the now defunct TVNZ 6. Leading up to the launch of U, there were 13 days' worth of promotional videos and programming information aired to advertise the new channel.
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group, and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, and has sometimes played a large role inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the Premier League to break away from the Football League in 1992.
Igloo was a New Zealand prepaid pay TV service launched on 3 December 2012. The Pace-supplied receiver provides customers access to free-to-air channels through Freeview, and previously a small selection of pay TV channels could be purchased for 30 days. On 1 March 2017, Igloo closed and the receiver was updated to allow viewers to use New Zealand's Freeview television service.
BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels provided by BT Consumer; a division of BT Group in the United Kingdom and Ireland that was launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Broadcast Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. BT Sport is available on the BT TV, Sky and Virgin Media television platforms in the UK and Sky, Eir TV and Vodafone TV in the Republic of Ireland.
Sommet Sports was a sports-oriented television channel operated in New Zealand that was broadcast on channel 14 on Freeview NZ. It offered a varied range of sporting events, some of which had never been screened in New Zealand. This included live weekly coverage of the German Bundesliga, delayed Liverpool FC matches from the English Premier League and coverage of the former SKY-broadcast Moto GP.
TVNZ 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 March 2016 to replace TVNZ's popup channel that was used to air the Wimbledon Championships. Initially advertised as a male-skewed channel, this branding was later dropped.
FreeSports is a British free-to-air sports television channel operated and owned by Premier Media S.à r.l. Launched on 31 August 2017, the channel is operated in the United Kingdom and is also available in the Republic of Ireland as a pay channel.
