TelevisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
in New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
was
introduced in 1960This is a list of when the first publicly announced television broadcasts occurred in the mentioned countries. Non-public field tests and closed circuit demonstrations are not included.
...
. Provision was first made for the licensing of private radio and television stations in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
by the Broadcasting Act 1976.
In
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, there are four forms of broadcast digital television.
SKYSKY Network Television Limited , often trading as SKY, is a New Zealand pay television service. On August 21, 2009, SKY had 778,902 subscribers, which comprises:*623,564 residential digital subscribers,*22,772 residential UHF subscribers,...
's satellite service (available nationwide), Freeview's satellite service (available nationwide), Freeview's terrestrial service (available in main centres) and
TelstraClear'sTelstraClear is New Zealand's second-largest telecommunications company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation , with around 400,000 customers....
cable service (available in
WellingtonWellington is the capital of New Zealand, at the southwestern tip of the North Island between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island and is New Zealand's third most populous urban area with residents. There are ...
and
ChristchurchChristchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area. It is one third the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.The city was named by...
).
SKY TVSKY Network Television Limited , often trading as SKY, is a New Zealand pay television service. On August 21, 2009, SKY had 778,902 subscribers, which comprises:*623,564 residential digital subscribers,*22,772 residential UHF subscribers,...
launched New Zealand's first nationwide digital TV service in December 1998 and had a monopoly on digital satellite TV until the launch of Freeview's nationwide digital Satellite service in May 2007. The Freeview terrestrial service, named Freeview|HD is a
high definitionHigh-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems...
digital terrestrial televisionDigital Terrestrial Television is the technological evolution and advance from analogue terrestrial television, which broadcasts land based signals...
service launched on April 14, 2008. The service currently serves areas surrounding
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest...
,
HamiltonHamilton is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and Hamilton City is the country's seventh largest territorial authority. Hamilton is in the Waikato region of the North Island, approximately south of Auckland...
,
TaurangaTauranga is the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region, in the North Island of New Zealand.Settled by Europeans in the early 19th century, and constituted as a city in 1963., Tauranga City is the fifth largest urban area in New Zealand, with an urban population of The city lies in the...
,
NapierNapier is a port city in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand. It has a population of Less than twenty kilometres separate the centres of Hastings City and Napier, and as such the two are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...
-
HastingsHastings City is the administrative centre of the Hastings District in the Hawke's Bay Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Hastings is located inland from the City of Napier...
,
Palmerston NorthPalmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of In 2008 it was the 11th-largest city in New Zealand, and the centre of the seventh-largest urban area...
,
WellingtonWellington is the capital of New Zealand, at the southwestern tip of the North Island between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island and is New Zealand's third most populous urban area with residents. There are ...
,
ChristchurchChristchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area. It is one third the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.The city was named by...
, and
DunedinDunedin , , is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the region of Otago. It has the largest council boundary area of any New Zealand city, and is the hub of the fifth-largest urban area...
. Digital cable television currently operates in
WellingtonWellington is the capital of New Zealand, at the southwestern tip of the North Island between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island and is New Zealand's third most populous urban area with residents. There are ...
and
ChristchurchChristchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area. It is one third the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of Christchurch.The city was named by...
on
TelstraClear'sTelstraClear is New Zealand's second-largest telecommunications company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation , with around 400,000 customers....
cable TV system. High Definition programming is available from Freeview on terrestrial broadcast only and on SKY TV through the MY SKY HDi decoder.
Only a limited range of channels are available in High Definition.
History
Television was first introduced in New Zealand in 1960. The annual television licence fee was NZ£4.
Initially, programming was done on a regional basis, with different services broadcasting from the main cities, AKTV2 in
AucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population approaching 1.4 million residents, percent of the country's population. Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest...
, being the first, followed by CHTV3 in Christchurch and WNTV1 in Wellington in 1961, and finally DNTV2 in Dunedin in 1962. Today, however, programming and scheduling is done in Auckland where all the major networks are now headquartered
It was not until 1969 that the NZBC's first live network news bulletin was broadcast. In 1973, NZBC TV was networked nationwide, and colour television was introduced in November in time for the
1974 British Commonwealth GamesThe 1974 British Commonwealth Games were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January-2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Mexico City at the 1968 Summer Olympics ....
.
The NZBC had asked the government for the approval of a second TV channel as early as 1964, but this was rejected as the government considered increasing coverage of the existing TV service to be of greater priority. By 1971, however, two proposals for a second channel were under consideration: that of the NZBC for a non-commercial service; and a separate commercial channel to be operated by an Independent Television Corporation.
Although the Broadcasting Authority had favoured the Independent Television bid, the incoming
LabourThe New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially liberal, and Progressive, and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
government favoured the NZBC's application and awarded it the licence without any formal hearings beforehand. (Eventually, Independent Television was awarded NZ$50 000 in compensation.)
Reorganisation
The introduction of a second TV channel in 1975, also saw the reorganisation of broadcasting in New Zealand. The NZBC was dissolved in April of that year, with the two television channels, Television One and TV2, run separately from one another. TV2 was renamed
South Pacific TelevisionSouth Pacific Television was a television channel in New Zealand, which operated between 1976 and 1980.- The Early Days :South Pacific Television first went to air on June 30, 1975...
in 1976.
In 1978, the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ) was established, and in 1980, TV One and South Pacific (known once again as TV2) were merged into a single organisation,
Television New ZealandTelevision New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2 and new media services.-History:...
(TVNZ).
Commercialisation
In 1988, following major economic reforms to the state sector, the BCNZ was dissolved. TVNZ and RNZ became separate 'State-Owned Enterprises' (SOEs) which would have to compete commercially and return dividends to the Crown.
Rather than continuing to be used to directly fund TVNZ and Radio New Zealand, the licence fee, now called the broadcasting fee was to be used for local content production and the government funding for non-commercial broadcasting in radio and television on a contestable basis. As part of wide ranging reforms in the broadcasting sector, the Labour Government of
David LangeDavid Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a social-democrat party...
established the Broadcasting Commission, which became known as and finally called
New Zealand on AirNZ On Air is an independent New Zealand broadcast funding agency. It is an autonomous crown entity separate from central Government and governed by a Board of six appointed by the Minister of Broadcasting...
.
Restrictions on television advertising were removed in 1989, so that TVNZ channels could show advertisements on Sundays and public holidays. In that year,
TV3TV3 is a commercial television station in New Zealand broadcasting via terrestrial to almost 100 percent of the country, and on Sky Network Television's and Freeview's satellite platform. It began broadcasting on 26 November 1989, the first privately owned television network in the country...
became the first privately owned TV station in the country, finally ending the state monopoly. Restrictions on foreign ownership were also removed, and TV3 was subsequently sold to
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's CanWest.
SKY Network TelevisionSKY Network Television Limited , often trading as SKY, is a New Zealand pay television service. On August 21, 2009, SKY had 778,902 subscribers, which comprises:*623,564 residential digital subscribers,*22,772 residential UHF subscribers,...
, in which TVNZ originally had a small stake, began broadcasting New Zealand's first pay TV service on three UHF channels.
Other free-to-air commercial television operators now include TV3's sister channel C4 and Prime TV. SKY TV remains the dominant pay-TV operator, now operating on satellite, although
TelstraClearTelstraClear is New Zealand's second-largest telecommunications company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation , with around 400,000 customers....
also operates cable TV services.
Although TVNZ had to compete with its commercial rivals through the 1990s, it maintained a dominant market position and paid a significant amount of its profits to the Crown in dividends. By 1998–1999, the National Party-led coalition was moving to privatise TVNZ and announced that the broadcasting fee would be discontinued.
Since the 1970s, the licence fee had been capped at NZ$100 a year, and was not allowed to increase with inflation. In real terms, this meant that public funding of broadcasting in New Zealand was greatly reduced by the time of the broadcasting fee's abolition.
However, the 1999 election saw a Labour-led coalition gain office. Over its next two terms, attempts were made to reintroduce public service functions to the sector. In 2003, TVNZ was restructured as a Crown-Owned Company with a public service Charter. The Charter receives a small amount of government subsidy, but TVNZ remains predominantly dependent on commercial revenue and is obliged to continue paying dividends to the Crown.
It can apply to NZ On Air (funded directly from the government since 2000) for support in local content initiatives, such as drama and comedy, funding of programming for minority groups such as gay, Christian and rural New Zealanders, The funding of Maori programming has since passed to
Te Mangai PahoTe Māngai Pāho is a New Zealand Crown Entity responsible for promotion of Māori language and culture by providing funding for Māori language programming on radio and television. Set up by an amendment to the Broadcasting Act in 1989 it receives funding directly from the government.-External links:*...
the Maori broadcasting commission.
In 2004, the
Maori Television ServiceMāori Television is a New Zealand TV station broadcasting programmes that make a significant contribution to the revitalisation of te reo and tikanga Māori. Funded by the New Zealand Government, the station started broadcasting on 28 March 2004 from a base in Newmarket.Te Reo is the station's...
was established to promote Maori language and culture. MTS is funded partly through direct government funding and partly through commercial advertising, but is eligible for contestable programming funds from Te Mangai Paho.
In 2006, the Government announced the introduction of two new non-commercial digital television services operated by TVNZ, offering drama, arts, documentary and children's programming called Freeview.
Freeview
Freeview is a non-profit organisation providing
free-to-airFree-to-air television and radio broadcasts are sent unencrypted and may be received via any suitable receiver:Free-to-view is, generally, available without subscription but is digitally encrypted and may be restricted geographically...
digital televisionDigital television is the sending and receiving of moving images and sound by discrete signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV.-Timeline:...
and
digital radioDigital radio describes radio technologies which carry information as a digital signal, by means of a digital modulation method. The most common meaning is digital audio broadcasting technologies, but the topic may also cover TV broadcasting as well as many two-way digital wireless communication...
to
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
. The Freeview service is available via
satelliteSatellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by a satellite dish and set-top box. In many areas of the world it provides a wide range of channels and services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cable providers.-History:The...
throughout New Zealand. Freeview's terrestrial service, Freeview
|HD, is a
high definitionHigh-definition television is a digital television broadcasting system with higher resolution than traditional television systems...
digital terrestrial televisionDigital Terrestrial Television is the technological evolution and advance from analogue terrestrial television, which broadcasts land based signals...
service available to 75 percent of the country's population, using
DVB-SDVB-S is the original Digital Video Broadcasting forward error coding and modulation standard for satellite television and dates from 1994, in its first release, while development lasted from 1993 to 1997...
and
DVB-TDVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first broadcast in the UK in 1997...
standards on government provided spectrum.
Analogue switchoffThe digital television transition is the process in which analog television broadcasting is converted to and replaced by digital television...
in New Zealand is planned for when 75 percent of households have access to digital television, or 2012, whichever is sooner.A tentative date will be set when digital uptake reaches 60% (55% reached as of November 2008). A major benefit of digital television is the ability to overcome the poor reception caused by
New Zealand's rugged topographyThe geography of New Zealand encompasses two main islands and a number of smaller islands, located near the centre of the water hemisphere. New Zealand varies in climate, from cold and wet to dry and to subtropical in some areas...
.
It was estimated that on December 31, 2008, 198,938 Freeview certified set-top boxes and
IDTVsAn Integrated Digital Television set is a television set with a built in digital tuner, be it for DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C, DMB-T/H, ATSC or ISDB. Most of them also allow reception of analogue signals . They do away with the need for a set top box for converting those signals for reception on a...
had been sold since the platform's launch (146,416 Freeview, 52,522 Freeview
|HD). It is estimated that Freeview is in 12,6% of New Zealand homes (roughly 420,000 people). This makes it New Zealand's third largest television platform, and New Zealand's second largest digital platform. Freeview-certified
set-top boxA set-top box or set-top unit is a device that connects to a television and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen.- History :...
es and
PVRPVR may refer to:* Personal video recorder, also known as a digital video recorder* Plant Variety Rights, a patented cultivar* CD155, the Poliovirus Receptor that facilitates poliovirus infection...
s are available at most major New Zealand retailers. Cheaper, uncertified equipment can also be used.
Regional Channels
New Zealand's deregulated broadcasting environment has led to many regional stations (either non-commercial public service or privately owned) that broadcast only in one region or city. These stations mainly broadcast free to air on UHF frequencies, however some are carried on subscription TV. Content ranges from local news, access broadcasts, satellite sourced news, tourist information and Christian programming to music videos.
Over a dozen regional television stations in New Zealand are grouped by the
Regional Broadcasters Association.
Pay Television Channels
New Zealand has a number of television channels that are, or have been, only available on pay television networks.
- SKY Network Television: In 1990, SKY Network Television
SKY Network Television Limited , often trading as SKY, is a New Zealand pay television service. On August 21, 2009, SKY had 778,902 subscribers, which comprises:*623,564 residential digital subscribers,*22,772 residential UHF subscribers,...
(then unrelated to its UK namesakeBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
) launched three pay-TV channels offering movies, sport and news on UHF these overtime expanded to five. In 1998 it launched a multichannel digital satellite TV service.
- World TV: a Digital Broadcasting Media company, which broadcasts widely on Chinese TV and Radio shows and some on Korean and 1 channel on Japanese in New Zealand. WTV signals can only be received by Digital Set-top boxes serviced by SKY TV.
- TelstraClear
TelstraClear is New Zealand's second-largest telecommunications company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation , with around 400,000 customers....
: currently operate a cable television network in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch. Customers can subscribe to plans incorporating between 25 and 48 channels. Most content is offered on behalf of SKY Network TelevisionSKY Network Television Limited , often trading as SKY, is a New Zealand pay television service. On August 21, 2009, SKY had 778,902 subscribers, which comprises:*623,564 residential digital subscribers,*22,772 residential UHF subscribers,...
however some channels such as TBNThe Trinity Broadcasting Network is the United States' largest Christian television network. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, it also has studio facilities located in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New York...
, Discovery Travel and AdventureThe Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television network that features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world...
and Deutsche welleDeutsche Welle or DW, is Germany's international broadcaster. It broadcasts news and information on shortwave, Internet and satellite radio in 29 languages . It has a satellite television service, , that is available in four languages, and there is also an online news site...
are broadcast exclusively through TelstraClear.
External links
Further reading
- Horrocks, Roger & Nick Perry. 2004. Television in New Zealand : Programming the Nation. Auckland, N.Z. : Oxford University Press