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TV3 (New Zealand)
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TV3 is a large commercial television station in New Zealand broadcasting via terrestrial to almost 100% of the country, and on Sky Network Television's digital platform. It began broadcasting on November 26, 1989. It was the first privately owned television network in the country. The station is part of the MediaWorks NZ group, which also operates C4 and numerous radio stations within New Zealand.
ications to apply for a warrant to operate New Zealand’s third national television network opened in 1985.
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TV3 is a large commercial television station in New Zealand broadcasting via terrestrial to almost 100% of the country, and on Sky Network Television's digital platform. It began broadcasting on November 26, 1989. It was the first privately owned television network in the country. The station is part of the MediaWorks NZ group, which also operates C4 and numerous radio stations within New Zealand.
History
Applications to apply for a warrant to operate New Zealand’s third national television network opened in 1985. The Broadcasting Tribunal announced in 1987 that TV3 had won the warrant. TV3 initially aimed to provide a regionally based television service, with linked studios based in each of the four areas (Auckland, Wellington, Regional North Island, and South Island).
There were numerous delays that held back the start date of TV3. Litigation surrounded the granting of the warrant, as did the share market crash in October 1987, which wiped out a large proportion of the capital that TV3 required to establish the channel. The Minister of Broadcasting, Richard Prebble, announced in late 1987 that much of the UHF spectrum in New Zealand was to be auctioned to allow for an increased number of television channels, resulting in a reduction in the value of TV3’s warrant due to the increased competition. The drawn-out Tribunal process of frequency allocation that TV3 had just won would be replaced by a bidding process that would allocate frequencies in weeks rather than months or even years.
These problems resulted in the ambitious regional plans being rationalised before being shelved completely. The network was to be based in Auckland with limited studios and news and sales teams in the other main centres.
Broadcasting started on November 26, 1989 with a preview of what viewers could expect to see. Its first broadcast was a two-hour special previewing the network's programmes and featuring comedians David McPhail and Jon Gadsby playing cameramen. The TV3 slogan proclaimed, 'Come home to the feeling'. The following day about 60 percent of New Zealand "came home" to TV3's regular broadcasts.
Early in TV3's life, financial supporters of the network included ABC and NBC as a minority shareholding, who later sold their interest.
TV3 failed to gain ground against a recently revitalised TVNZ and was placed into receivership on May 2, 1990. It has been claimed that the receiver was called in too early and that advertising, which had been weak, was starting to improve. TV3 continued to broadcast, with the major creditor, Westpac Banking Corporation, supporting the network by taking a large shareholding.
In hindsight, much of TV3's initial failure stemmed from trying to be everything to everyone, attempting to match the state broadcaster show-for-show, rather than finding niche areas where it could flourish. It also was difficult to break the habits of TV viewers, especially launching at summer, and with the main advertising medium for programmes (TVNZ) heavily promoting its own lineup. High hopes were placed on domestically produced TV shows such as The Billy T. James Show, Issues, and Letter to Blanchy (only the pilot was aired at first, though subsequent episodes were made). TV3 news anchorwoman Joanna Paul was one of the highest paid in the country at the time. It became apparent that the broad schedule meant that TV3 had used up its programmes too quickly. The state broadcaster, Television New Zealand, had been ready to take on the challenge. One early triumph was TV3's free-to-air coverage of the Gulf War, which was regarded as superior to that sourced by the state broadcaster on TV One.
As TV3 badly needed investment during a climate of economic recession, the Government liberalised the rules on foreign ownership of television stations (lifting the 15 percent cap to 49 percent and later removing all restrictions), allowing TV3 to search for an investor overseas. In December 1991, CanWest took a 20 percent shareholding in TV3 and secured a management agreement allowing it full control to operate the station. CanWest introduced tighter controls on budgets while targeting the lucrative 18-49 year old audience. TV3’s audience share and advertising revenue steadily increased, leading to significant profits. TV3 also steadily increased its coverage of New Zealand, adding dozens of transmitters and translators, often with the assistance of New Zealand on Air. By 1998 about 97 percent of the population could receive the channel.
Eventually, TV3's success came from defining itself through its flagship news programmes, its domestically produced current affairs' programmes, and its entertainment programming.
On October 2, 1996, TV3 announced a reshuffling of its broadcast frequencies to enable it to launch a new network, to be called TV4 Network Limited, on the VHF band. TV4, which started on June 29, 1997, is a free to air network aimed at a younger audience than TV3. The launch was considered successful, with high brand recognition and ratings significantly higher than MTV, TV4’s television rival. TV4's opening broadcast was the controversial Tyson-Holyfield boxing rematch.
In April 1997 CanWest purchased Westpac’s 48 percent shareholding in TV3, taking CanWest’s stake to 68 percent. In June CanWest picked up the More FM Radio network, followed in November with the purchase of the remaining 32 percent of TV3. In April 1998, CanWest announced that it had made C$22m in the six months to February 1998 in New Zealand, up a third on the same period the year before. TV4 contributed positively to the result, with some of the increase due to the inclusion of More FM, while TV3 was continuing to experience strong revenue growth.
Canwest's investments in New Zealand have developed considerably in New Zealand over the period that it has had interests in the country. TV4 continued to be a source of concern for the broadcaster the position of TV3 has been strengthened by alliances with SKY Television for sport and a series of high profile mistakes by TVNZ as it dealt with the dominance of SKY in pay television. The election of the Labour Government in 1999 refocussed TVNZ as a semi-non-commercial broadcaster, meaning its focus on driving ratings and dominating the free to air television market would stumble. TV3 took advantage of this, steadily working on ensuring a friendly public image.
During 2004 the station was transferred into the ownership of Canwest MediaWorks NZ as a way of listing 30 percent of the Canadian company's New Zealand assets on the New Zealand share market. TV3's parent company TVWorks announced its annual revenue at $124 million in October 2004 which were $13 million up from the previous financial year.
In May 2007 it was announced that Ironbridge Capital, an Australian private equity firm, was paying $386 million or $2.43 a share for the 70 percent of CanWest MediaWorks NZ owned by CanWest Global Communications. It was also offering the same price to minority shareholders under a full takeover bid.
On air
News
TV3 operates a significant news and current affairs department, responsible for over nine hours of peak programming weekly. News and current affairs programming is in constant high demand by advertisers and attracts premium rates. TV3's flagship one-hour bulletin, 3 News is aired nightly at 6pm, consistently outrating state television's ONE News in the key 18-49 demographic.* Sunrise
3 News at 12 3 News Campbell Live 60 Minutes (New Zealand TV series) Nightline Sports Tonight
Sport
TV3 currently holds the free-to-air rights to the A1GP. It previously held the delayed free-to-air rights to cricket and rugby union, but lost them when SKY Network Television bought Prime Television. It also holds the broadcast rights for the 2009 V8 Supercar series, which is based in Australia and the NZ PGA Championships.
Local entertainment
TV3 screens a variety of locally-made programming. Like many other New Zealand television channels, TV3's programming is produced by outside companies.
Local programming includes:
New Zealand's Next Top ModelOutrageous FortuneDeal or No DealDownsize Me!TargetWa$ted!bro'TownPulp SportMoney ManInside New Zealand
Imported entertainment
TV3 has a long term agreement with 20th Century Fox Television to purchase programing. TV3 also has programming deals with CBS Paramount Television & NBC Universal. TV3 broadcasts entertainment programming targeted at the 18 – 49 age demographic, the most attractive audience group to New Zealand advertisers and their agencies. TV3 broadcasts mainly American shows, though it also features several locally produced shows, and some imported from Australia and Britain.
TV3's international shows include:
Current primetime schedule
News and Current Affairs are in Grey;
Drama is in Blue;
Sitcoms, Animation and Comedy are in Purple;
Lifestyle programs are in Green;
Factual programs and Documentaries are Yellow;
Reality, Game shows and Talk shows are in Red;
Sport is in Orange;
Movies are in Pink.
The above represents TV3's usual primetime schedule. It does not reflect one-off events, and program starting times may vary from those shown. This schedule is current as of 2009-02-21. For up-to-date information, see TV3's online television guide. ().
Digital TV
TV3 is a member broadcaster of the Freeview platform as well as broadcasting on SKY Digital. TV3 began screening widescreen transmissions on both platforms on April 11, although TelstraClear InHomeTV, which gets most of its content from SKY Digital, switched back to screening the cropped version of TV3 for a couple of months due to customer complaints. TelstraClear resumed broadcasting the widescreen version of TV3 on 24 July, 2007. In April 2008 TV3 commenced 1080i high definition broadcasts on the Freeview|HD terrestrial platform and on SKY Network Television's HD satellite platform.
TV3 will launch a new service to Freeview customers from March 30, 2009. It will be another channel with a 1-hour time shift the the present TV3 programme. TV3+1 will be available on both Freeview|HD (in 1080i HD) and Freeview satellite (standard definition only) on channel 8.
See also
External links
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