The business of TV

Fulltime television broadcasting officially began in New Zealand at 7:30pm on the evening of 1 June 1960. Since then it has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry built around 11 national free-to-air channels, 22 regional free-to-air stations and two pay TV networks.

To help you get to grips with this fast changing business we’ve compiled a list of reference links.

Background

For a quick overview read our History of New Zealand Television or have a browse of Wikipedia’s Television in New Zealand page. If the terminology and jargon is a bit overwhelming we recommend you check out our dictionary of terminology.

The major players

New Zealand’s Free to Air Television Industry is dominated by two major players; Television New Zealand and  MediaWorks TV.  Between them, they account for about 72% of peak time viewing.

Other Free to Air channels include Maori Television, Stratos / Triangle and many other regional channels.

The pay TV market is dominated by Sky Television.

Measuring the audience

To find out how Television audiences are measured, read Understanding TV ratings.

Throng, an online forum for television watchers, provides daily updates on the top rating shows and we compile the monthly top 20 programmes.

Advertising on television

We’ve compiled a list of the people and businesses than can help get your business on television. Click here to find them.