Horizon Pacific Television was a network of four regional television stations operated by Television New Zealand from 1995 to 1997, with services in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin on the UHF band. The service carried a mix of local programmes and relays of BBC World. It was later shut down and replaced by a time-shifted feed of MTV Europe with local inserts.
| Country | New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | New Zealand |
| Headquarters | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Television New Zealand, Ltd. |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | 19 March 1995 |
| Closed | June 30, 1997 |
History
editHorizon Pacific Television started on 19 March 1995 (Sunday) at 3pm[1] as part of a diversification of TVNZ's business units post-deregulation.[2] It was created following criticisms regarding the lack of regional programming on TVNZ's channels, and competed against established local services such as Max TV, Mainland Television and Eastland Television.[3]
The network was composed of the following stations:
- ATV (Auckland)
- Coast to Coast (Hamilton)
- Capital City Television (Wellington)
- Southern Television (Dunedin)
These stations were joined by a fifth, Christchurch's Canterbury Television, which was an independent television station, in November 1995.[4]
In 1997, Television New Zealand announced that it was going to withdraw the operations of Horizon Pacific due to a lack of financial sustainability to continue.[3] TVNZ replaced it with MTV, which was seen as a more "competitive" alternative.[3][5] MTV would eventually become unprofitable and shut down less than a year later.[6]
The shutdown led to redundancies at TVNZ, some of which were compensated for gaining new jobs at TVNZ's news and current affairs division.[7]
Programming
editAt launch, Horizon Pacific carried news bulletins from BBC World, documentaries, drama series (such as Hill Street Blues), lifestyle and musical programming, as well as local programmes.[1] From its launch day, BBC World began being carried overnight on TV One instead of closing down.[1]
Although the channel pledged "regional public service television", critics of the service called the supposed statement of the service as an "oxymoron" due to the abundance of foreign content.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c New Zealand Listener, 17-23 March 1995
- ^ "Lots of growth in Kiwi land". Variety. 3 April 1995. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Television New Zealand's Charter: The struggle between social responsabilities and commercial imperatives". Auckland University of Technology. 2003. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ "Horizon Pacific cleared to acquire CTV". Commerce Commission of New Zealand. 9 November 1995. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ Waikato Times, 27 June 1997, p.17
- ^ The Press, 30 May 1998
- ^ a b "TVNZ Repositions Channels". Television New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1998-01-23. Retrieved 8 June 2024.