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.
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.
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.
UKTV Media Limited, trading as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through a joint venture between the BBC and Thames Television. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest television companies.
The Goodnight Kiwi is an animated short which has been used to signal the end of nightly broadcasts on Television New Zealand channels. The Goodnight Kiwi features two characters: the eponymous Goodnight Kiwi, and his companion, simply known as The Cat. The animation was introduced in 1975 on TV2, and used on South Pacific Television between 1976 and 1980. Between 1980 and 19 October 1994, the animation was screened again on TV2. This animation returned on 6 September 2007 for use on TVNZ 6 when the channel ended transmission at midnight. TVNZ U also used the Goodnight Kiwi at midnight before overnight service.
C4 was a New Zealand television channel owned and operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. C4 was available on both digital terrestrial and satellite platforms and played music around the clock, including music from C4's sister radio division from The Rock, The Edge, The Breeze, More FM, George FM, Mai FM & The Sound. C4 also aired a lot of speciality music shows such as HomeGrown, Top 10/100, Video Hits, Fade To Black, Steel Mill, the UChoose40 and the Biggest Records Right Now. The channel was originally launched on Friday 3 October 2003 at 08:00pm as a re-branding of TV4 which had been broadcasting since 1997. On 1 May 2010, as C4 had been moving away from music programming since 2008, the jukebox side was split off and C4 launched a second C4 channel on Channel 9 called C4 2. C4 2 was only available on digital Freeview terrestrial and satellite platforms. At the end of 2010 an announcement was made that MediaWorks would again re-brand the current C4 channel as FOUR, which meant C4 2 would be converted to a music show as C4 was moved to its Channel 9 position. C4 shut down on Thursday 26 June 2014 at 01:00 am. It was replaced by The Edge TV the next day on Friday 27 June 2014 at 04:00 pm. Nearly a decade later on 17 October 2023 two weeks after the official 20th anniversary, The Spinoff paid tribute to C4 in a podcast video on YouTube celebrating C4's 20 year anniversary.
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.
A timeshift channel is a television channel carrying time-delayed reruns of its "parent" channel's programming. This channel runs alongside their parent: the term timeshift does not refer to a network broadcasting at a later time to reflect a local time zone, unless the parent is also available. Often the timeshift channel's branding and advertising will be the same as that of the parent, with the channel number and respective timing being the only distinction between the two, but some, such as Channel 4 +1 in the United Kingdom and TVNZ 1+1 in New Zealand, will overlay a different digital on-screen graphic to distinguish the two channels. A few channels, like Film4 +1 in the United Kingdom, do not carry a digital on-screen graphic on its regular channel or its timeshift 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.
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.
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.
JML Direct TV was a television shopping channel owned by JML Direct Limited that mainly broadcasts infomercials featuring various products from the company. The channel was broadcast on Sky and Freesat.
TVNZ 6 was a digital-only, commercial-free television channel operated by Television New Zealand. It launched in September 2007, and was available in 60.3% of New Zealand homes on the Freeview and SKY Television Digital platforms. TVNZ 6 was on air daily from 6am to midnight.
TVNZ Sport Extra was a temporary sports television station in New Zealand, operated by TVNZ. Broadcasting on channel 20 on Freeview, it showed live and delayed free-to-air coverage of selected events. Eric Kearley, TVNZ's Digital Launch Manager, has stated there was no further plans for this channel until the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Shop on TV is a late night shopping programming strand on ITV1 and STV, a livestream on YouTube and a standalone home shopping television channel, broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the DTT platform via Freeview and formally in the channel’s first run, on the Freesat and Sky digital satellite platforms.
Freeview is the name for the collection of free-to-air services on the Digital Terrestrial Television platform in the United Kingdom. The service was launched at 5 am on 30 October 2002 and is jointly operated by its five equal shareholders – BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BSkyB and transmitter operator Arqiva. This article documents the history of the Freeview service, from its inception up to the present.
Gemporia is a British television and online retailer, licensed by Ofcom under the Gems TV name. The channel is mostly concerned with selling jewellery with a few lifestyle products from the homeware and beauty categories promoted in various slots across the schedule. The channel is available on Sky, Virgin Media, Freesat, Freeview and online. The channel operations are based at Eagle Road Studios in Redditch, near Birmingham. As of February 2023, the channel broadcast 24 hours a day, live between the hours of 07:00-23:00 on television, via the GEMPORIA mobile app, and online at gemporia.com. The business derives from Gems TV in Thailand.
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.
Eden is a privately owned, national free-to-air television channel in New Zealand and has been on air since 2012. The channel features programs on topics such as: lifestyle, news, travel, reality, movies, entertainment, comedy, game shows and drama.
The Shopping Channel is a New Zealand 24/7 Infomercial channel which is broadcast on Sky satellite. The company was founded in 2010 and went live on 1 October 2012.
