List of New Zealand television channels

Provision was first made for the licensing of private radio and television stations in New Zealand by the Broadcasting Act 1976 (see sections 24(1)(g) and 95(1)(f)).

Contents

Television New Zealand

However, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) had a monopoly on TV in New Zealand until 1989. Its main channels are:

  • TV One - news, current affairs, general entertainment, documentaries and sport
  • TV2 - movies, soap operas, popular music, aimed at a younger audience

TVNZ also operated another station on UHF, called Horizon Pacific, which carried programming from BBC World, as well as documentaries, between 1995 and 1997, but this closed and was replaced by a local version of MTV, which itself closed a year later.

Private stations

Countrywide

Private TV channels currently broadcasting generally throughout New Zealand are:

  • TV3 (New Zealand) - news, current affairs, general entertainment, and sport
  • C4 - youth music channel
  • Prime TV - general entertainment

The country's first private TV channel, TV3, experienced serious financial problems before being acquired by Canada's CanWest, which owns the Ten Network in Australia, and part of TV3 in the Republic of Ireland.

Prime Television is now partly owned by Australia's Nine Network.

Regional

There are also regional stations, the first being Canterbury Television (CTV) in Christchurch, while in the largest city, Auckland, Triangle provides programming in different languages. There is also Mainland Television, based in Nelson, offering four channels. Wellington's Channel 7, which took the Horizon Pacific frequency, was relatively short-lived, carrying English-language programming from Deutsche Welle TV and local shows. A Christian group bought the frequency afterwards to broadcast Trinity programming, but that venture was even less successful financially, and now nothing is aired in its place.

Sky

In 1990, Sky Network Television (then unrelated to its UK namesake) launched three pay-TV channels offering movies, sport and news on UHF. In 1999 it launched a multichannel digital satellite TV service, including a music channel called Juice.

New Zealand Channel 58, owned by Gary Young, was operational between 1990 to 1991, and is currently looking to get back on the air in a venture.

Maori Television

A long-planned free-to-air state-supported TV channel, broadcasting partly in Māori, known as Māori Television, opened on 28 March 2004. Headquarters are in Newmarket, Auckland.

External Links

  • TVNZ (http://www.tvnz.co.nz)
  • TV3 (http://www.tv3.co.nz)
  • C4 (http://www.c4tv.co.nz)
  • Prime TV (http://www.primetv.co.nz)
  • Sky (http://www.skytv.co.nz)
  • Maori Television (http://www.maoritelevision.com)
  • Triangle TV (http://www.tritv.co.nz)


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