Horizon Pacific Television

Television channel

Horizon Pacific TelevisionCountry| New Zealand

|

Broadcast area| New Zealand
Headquarters| Auckland, New Zealand
Programming
Picture format| 4:3
Ownership
Owner| Television New Zealand, Ltd.
Sister channels|

* TV One
* TV2

History
Launched| 19 March 1995; 29 years ago (1995-03-19)
Closed| June 30, 1997 (1997-06-30)

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.

## History

[edit]

Horizon 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

[edit]

At 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]

After closing, its imported output moved to TV One.[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c New Zealand Listener, 17-23 March 1995
2. ^ "Lots of growth in Kiwi land". Variety. 3 April 1995. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
3. ^ 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.
4. ^ "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.
5. ^ Waikato Times, 27 June 1997, p.17
6. ^ The Press, 30 May 1998
7. ^ a b "TVNZ Repositions Channels". Television New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1998-01-23. Retrieved 8 June 2024.

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TVNZ

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