Sunday 29 June 1997
from the NZ Listener
TV One
6.00am BBC World: BBC World News
6.30 Hard Talk
7.00 BBC World Headlines
7.05 Weekend World: Horizon
8.00 eTV: dis-Abilities
8.30 Asia Dynamic
9.00 Praise Be
9.30 Tagata Pasifika
10.00 Waka Huia
11.00 Marae
Noon The Write Stuff
12.30 Strange But True Encounters (Final) (G)
1.00 As Time Goes By (G)
1.35 Brush Strokes (G)
2.50 UK Today (G)
3.00 Countrywide Bank Grandstand (Includes rugby, tennis, motorsport, jetsprinting)
6.00 One Network News
6.30 Our World: Savage Skies (G)
7.30 60 Minutes
8.30 Montana Sunday Theatre: Breakout
10.20 Our Friends in the North (AO)
11.30 Ray Bradbury Theatre (PGR)
11.50 Infomercials
12.50am BBC World: BBC World Debate
1.00 BBC World Headlines
1.05 Breakfast fwith Frost
2.00 BBC World News
2.30 World Focus: Correspondent
3.00 BBC World Headlines
3.05 Weekend World: Horizon
4.00 BBC World News
4.30 Time Out: Top Gear
5.00 BBC World News
5.30 Reporters (Continues to 6am)
TV2
6.00am Hallo Spencer (G)
6.30 Battletech (G)
6.50 Iznogoud (G)
7.15 Little Mouse on the Prairie (G)
7.30 Sonic the Hedgehog (G)
8.00 What Now, including:
8.25 What a Cartoon! (G)
9.05 Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (G)
10.00 Coca-Cola Video Hits
Noon Sunday Cinema: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (Rpt, PGR)
2.30 Simon (G)
3.00 Rescue (Rescue 911) (PGR)
4.00 The Jeff Foxworthy Show (G)
4.30 Step by Step (Rpt, G)
5.00 The Monkees (G)
5.30 In the House (G)
6.00 Harry and the Henderson (G)
6.30 Stars in Their Eyes (Series return) (G)
7.30 Roseanne: The Absolutely Fabulous Episode (PGR)
8.00 How to Be Absolutely Fabulous (PGR)
8.30 Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout
10.15 Filthy Rich: Daddy’s Girl
10.45 Movie: Cover Up (1990) (AO)
12.35am Movie: Heart Condition (1990) (Rpt, AO)
2.30 Ren & Stimpy (Rpt, G)
3.00 Behind the Scenes: “The Fifth Element”
3.25 Rocko’s Modern Life (Rpt)
3.55 Love and War (Rpt, PGR)
4.45 Raising Caines
5.10 Boogies Diner (G)
5.35 Kenneth Copeland Daily (G) (Continues to 6am)
TV3
6.00am Music and the Spoken Word (G)
6.30 Hillsongs Australia Presents Life Is for Living (G)
6.55 Animals and Us (G)
7.20 The Magic Box (G)
7.45 The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (G)
8.10 Muppets Go to the Movies (G)
9.00 Sunday (PGR)
10.00 Beyond 2000 (G)
10.45 Disaster Proof? (G)
11.35 Nissan Gone Fishin’ (PGR)
Noon The Magical World of Disney: Of Muppets and Men (G)
1.05 Movie: American Graffiti (1973) (PGR)
3.30 One Day in Kaitaia
4.30 3 Sport: Super League (Penrith Panthers v Auckland Warriors)
6.15 3 National News
6.30 20/20
7.30 Real TV (PGR)
8.30 Sunday Night at the Movies: Hard Target (1993) (AO)
10.30 3 Sport: Boxing: Tyson v Holyfield (Live)
11.30 Late Movie: The Amy Fisher Story (1993) (Rpt, AO)
1.30am Infomercials
5.30 Benny Hinn (Continues to 6am)
TV4
1.00pm Boxing: Tyson v Holyfield (Live)
4.00 This Is TV4
4.30 Extreme Comedy (G)
5.30 Singled Out (G)
6.30 Beverly Hills 90210 (Double episode) (G/PGR)
8.30 Movie: Reality Bites (1994) (AO)
10.30 David Bowie & Friends: A Very Special Concert (PGR)
12.20am Closedown
HBO (Sky Movies)
7.00am Born to Be Wild (1994) (G)
8.45 Love Story (1970) (PG)
10.30 Box Office America
11.00 Milk Money (1994) (M)
12.45pm Convict Cowboy (1995) (M)
2.30 The 1997 MTV Movie Awards
4.15 Funny Bones (1995) (M)
6.30 The River Wild (1994) (M)
8.30 HBO Blockbuster Premiere: While You Were Sleeping (1995) (PG)
10.15 Braveheart (1995) (R16)
1.05am Milk Money (1994) (M)
2.50 Love Story (1970 (PG)
4.30 In the Mouth of Madness (1994) (M) (Continues to 6.15am)
Orange
6.00am Cartoon Network: World Famous Toons
7.00 The Popeye Show
7.30 Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
8.00 The Tom & Jerry Show
8.30 Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics
9.00 Dink, the Little Dinosaur
9.30 Big Bag
10.30 Timeless Tales: Rumplestiltzkin
11.00 Goober and the Ghost Chasers
11.30 The Bugs & Daffy Show
12.30pm Dog House: 2 Stupid Dogs/Marmaduke
1.00 Cow & Chicken
1.30 The Addams Family
2.00 Dynomutt
2.30 The Jetsons
3.00 Young Robin Hood
3.30 Goldie Gold and Action Jack
4.00 Prisoner, Cell Block H
5.00 The Flying Nun
5.30 The Six Million Dollar Man
6.30 The A-Team
7.30 Quantum Leap
8.30 Orange at the Movies: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) (M)
10.15 Something Is Out There
11.15 The Kenny Everett Show
12.15am The Juice Music Television (Continues to 6am)
On 2 October 1996, TV3 Network Services Ltd (now MediaWorks TV) announced a reshuffling of its broadcast frequencies to allow it to launch a new network, to be known as TV4, on the VHF band.
TV4 was a free-to-air network aimed at a younger audience than TV3 (now Three) and opened at 1pm on the afternoon of Sunday 29 June 1997 with live coverage of the controversial Tyson-Holyfield boxing rematch. The launch was considered successful, with high brand recognition and ratings significantly higher than MTV, TV4’s television rival.
MTV, under licence from MTV Networks (now ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks and ViacomCBS Networks International respectively), took over broadcasting on TVNZ’s Horizon Pacific Television (HPTV) stations at 5pm on the evening of Thursday 2 July 1997.
The New Zealand version of MTV was basically a direct feed of the MTV UK service, which was launched on 1 July 1997, with the inclusion of locally made programmes such as Havoc (with Mikey Havoc and Jeremy Wells, otherwise known as “Newsboy”), Wrekognize (with DLT and DJ Sir-Vere as hosts), a repeat of Mai Time from TV2 (now TVNZ 2), and Squeeze (with Francesca Rudkin).
Unfortunately, MTV closed its doors on Sunday 7 June 1998 at midnight as TVNZ’s licensing agreement with MTV Networks ended. Rick Ellis, CEO of TVNZ at the time, said MTV was a bold experiment on the part of TVNZ which had not met the critical viewership targets anticipated at launch.