Six months after launching its first digital channel TVNZ 6, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) is shortly to launch its second digital channel. Advertising-free digital channel TVNZ 7 will launch on Sunday 30 March 2008 with an event and live broadcast from Parliament. TVNZ 7 is New Zealand’s first local free-to-air factual channel. It will screen a broad range of news, current affairs, documentary and commentary shows.
TVNZ CEO Rick Ellis says that TVNZ 7 will have a distinctive New Zealand flavour. Freed from the constraints of commercial scheduling, it will offer New Zealanders more access to fresh and engaging local content in prime time. “We want TVNZ 7 to be a place where New Zealanders come to be informed and to form their views on the issues of the day. We want TVNZ 7 to be a place that expresses the diversity of perspectives in New Zealand today. Around 70 percent of the channel’s content will be locally-produced, and around 40 percent of that will be programming made specifically for TVNZ 7. News will make up 30 percent of the schedule.”
The significant news component of the TVNZ 7 schedule extends the TVNZ News and Current Affairs team’s commitment to providing the best news to New Zealanders across multiple platforms, anywhere, anytime. Mr Ellis says that news on TVNZ 7 will be complementary to TVNZ’s flagship news product ONE News at 6, and the late night news bulletin Tonight.
“The news on TVNZ 7 will run at different times to the ONE News broadcasts to fit in with New Zealanders’ busy lives. There will be ten minute bulletins called TVNZ News Now, which will go live on the hour, every hour, as well as a one hour news bulletin at 8pm, TVNZ News at 8.”
TVNZ launched its first digital channel, TVNZ 6, on 30 September 2007. TVNZ 7 will be available on Freeview from 12 noon on Sunday 30 March.
(Source: Television New Zealand)
on Feb 29th, 2008 at 16:02
It’s a pity they can’t just say “start broadcasting” instead, everything has to be “launched”. I suppose someone told them “launch” has more punch but I think it’s overused now. And later, when they change some graphics and get new jingles, they’ll call it a “re-launch”.
Perhaps I should launch a campaign against the overuse of the word.