And the ever-entertaining Teletext-in-vision!
1 Like
You got it, @TV4!
Teletext in Vision was a selection of content from TVNZâs now defunct teletext service, known as Teletext, and normally only shown in the absence of any other programming on TV One (now TVNZ 1) or TV2 (now TVNZ 2).
It consisted of selected Teletext pages which were transmitted as an ordinary TV picture which was viewable on any receiver. Audio accompaniment typically consisted of randomly assorted music tracks.
In fact, Teletext in Vision ran for 15 minutes before the start of daily transmission on both channels.
2 Likes
âPut your finger on the button for the information station! Thereâs something for everyone on (beat) TELE-TEXT. Switch to us, switch to us, switch to us today!â
One of the most iconic NZ jingles of the late 80s. I love it so much.
2 Likes
Iâm obsessed with this Classic NZ TV listings for some reason! I grew up in a regional area in Australia in the 70s and 80s with only 2 TV stations so I find it fascinating to compare what was available on NZâs 2 TV networks around the same time. There are some similarities although Iâd say the difference between the two channels I had (ABC-TV and a commercial station) was greater than between TV1 and 2 in NZ. You certainly knew which one you were on without checking.
3 Likes
Thanks for your feedback, @Brianc68!
SKY TELEVISION (Part 1)
Sky Television was New Zealandâs first subscription television service; it operated three channels - Sky Movies, Sky Sport and Sky News (a combination of CNN and BBC content) - on scrambled UHF frequencies. Sky Movies and Sky Sport initially broadcast from noon to midnight, seven days a week, and Sky News ran 24 hours a day.
Subscribers required a VideoCrypt decoder and a UHF aerial, both of which were supplied by when joining Sky. The signal was sent with the picture scrambled using VideoCrypt technology; the decoder was used to unscramble the picture. Sky Movies was the only channel broadcast in NICAM stereo; Sky Sport and Sky News were broadcast in mono. The original decoder didnât actually support stereo sound; if a subscriber wanted to watch Sky Movies in stereo, the subscriber had to feed the audio from another source such as a NICAM stereo capable VCR.
When Sky began on Friday 18 May 1990 it was initially available in the Auckland area. By July, its service was expanded to both Hamilton and Tauranga. In the first of three parts, here are the listings for Skyâs first weekend on air (courtesy of the NZ Listener).
Friday 18 May 1990
Sky Movies
Noon Ask Dr Ruth
12.30 Loving (1970)
2.00 SpaceCamp (1986)
4.00 Lovesick (1983)
6.00 Willow (1988)
8.05 The Man from Snowy River (1982)
10.00 Never Say Die (1988)
12.00am Closedown
Sky Sport
5.00pm The Opening Shot
6.00 Top Rank Boxing
7.00 AWA Wrestling
8.00 Golf: The Southwestern Bell Classic
9.15 Rugby League
Includes live coverage of a Winfield Cup 1990 match and highlights of the previous weekâs British Premiership final
12.00am Closedown
Sky News
6.00am Newsday
7.00 CNN International Hour
8.00 Newsday
8.30 BBC News (via satellite from the UK)
9.00 Newswatch
9.30 BBC 9pm News (via satellite from the UK)
10.00 The World Today
11.00 Moneyline
11.30 Crossfire
Noon Primenews
1.00 Larry King Live
2.00 CNN Evening News
3.00 Moneyline
3.30 CNN Sports Tonight
4.00 Newsnight
5.00 Showbiz Today
5.30 Newsnight Update
6.30 Sports Latenight
7.00 News Overnight
7.30 CNN Newsroom
8.00 Larry King Overnight
9.00 Crossfire
9.30 Earlybird News
10.00 Daybreak
10.30 Business Morning
11.00 Daybreak
11.30 Business Day
12.00am Daybreak
1.00 CNN Morning News
2.00 World Day
3.00 Daywatch
4.00 Newshour
5.00 Sonya Live in LA (Continues to 6am)
Sky Sport began at 5pm with âThe Opening Shotâ. It gave its subscribers a look at the programme lineup over the next few months, and highlights of the sporting week. Later in the evening, there was live coverage of Australian rugby league (Winfield Cup) and highlights of the previous weekâs British Premiership final.
Sky Movies kicked off at noon with the US talk show âAsk Dr Ruthâ (featuring Ruth Westheimer). This was followed at 12.30pm by the film âLovingâ, a 1970 drama/comedy about a New York illustratorâs problems with his wife, his job and his mistress; it starred George Segal and Eva Marie Saint. Big-screen entertainment continued at 2pm with âSpaceCampâ and concluded at midnight after showing âNever Say Dieâ (at 10pm), starring Temuera Morrison (âOnce Were Warriorsâ) and Lisa Eilbacher (âBeverly Hills Copâ).
Sky News went on air around the clock, 24 hours a day, from 6am. The international news which formed a regular part of the CNN feed was, in any case, boosted by Skyâs insertion of two BBC news bulletins daily.
End of Part 1âŚ
Todayâs TV: Wednesday 4 March 1987
from the NZ Listener
TV One
11.00am The Richard Simmons Show (Rpt)
11.20 Kohanga Reo
11.30 Peterâs Adventures
11.35 Portland Bill
11.40 Rainbow (Rpt)
Noon Midday News
12.10 The Young and the Restless
1.05 Days of Our Lives
1.55 Are You Being Served? (Rpt)
2.30 Knots Landing
3.25 The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Rpt)
3.55 The Odd Couple (Rpt)
4.20 Emmerdale Farm
4.50 Punky Brewster
5.15 The Young Doctors
5.45 Te Karere
6.00 M-A-S-H (Rpt)
6.30 Network News
Auckland: Top Half
Wellington: Today Tonight
Christchurch: The Mainland Touch
Dunedin: The South Tonight
7.30 Our World: Flights of Fancy
8.30 Sport on One Special: Harness Racing
1987 Lion Brown Interdominion Pacing and Trotting Championships - live from Addington Raceway, Christchurch
10.00 CATS Eyes
11,00 Secret Army (Rpt)
11.55 Closedown
TV2
Noon Wednesday Matinee: We Will All Go to Heaven (1977)
1.55 Crown Court (Rpt)
2.30 Play School
2.55 Alphabet Zoo
3.05 Orm and Cheep
3.15 The Worldâs Most Beautiful Tales
3.25 After School, including:
3.30 The Littles
3.55 The Littlest Hobo (Rpt)
4.30 The Flintstones (Rpt)
5.00 Childrenâs Island
5.30 Dr Who (Rpt)
6.00 Sons and Daughters
6.30 A Country Practice
7.30 Wednesday Feature: The Day After (1983)
10.00 Eye Witness News
Includes Worldwatch
11.00 Soap (Rpt)
11.30 Barney Miller (Rpt)
12.00am Closedown
2 Likes
I think I may have posted here about this before, but you used to be able to get the sound of the channels even as a non-subscriber.
Funny that this used to be primetime fare - now youâd barely know it was on in a lot of mainstream NZ media.
I guess it was prior to Trackside so nowhere else for it to be broadcast.
3 Likes
@OnAir I was just giving you an update, including listings for Skyâs first weekend on air (18-20 May 1990).
1 Like
Absolutely loved The Young Doctors and Sons and Daughters back in the day.
1 Like
Hey, I have that show on DVD! Kinda cheesy but pretty good overall.
1 Like
Todayâs TV: Tuesday 5 March 1985
from the NZ Listener
TV One
11.30am Play School (Rpt)
11.55 You and Your Child (Rpt)
Noon News
12.02 The Young and the Restless
12.55 Tai Chi
1.05 Archie Bunkerâs Place
1.35 Days of Our Lives
2.30 You and Your Child (Rpt)
2.35 Play School (Rpt)
3.00 Sesame Street (Rpt)
4.00 Mickey and Donald (Rpt)
4.30 Video Dispatch
5.00 The Flintstones (Rpt)
5.30 Shazam!
6.00 Taxi (Rpt)
6.30 News
Auckland: Top Half
Wellington: Today Tonight
Christchurch: The Mainland Touch
Dunedin: The South Tonight
7.30 Itâll Be Alright on the Night
8.30 The Tuesday Feature: The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1979)
10.25 WKRP in Cincinnati (Rpt)
10.55 News
11.00 Closedown
New Zealand played in the semifinal of the World Championship Cricket (WCC) that day, but lost to India by 7 wickets. That semifinal was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. TV Oneâs scheduled programmes (above) were dropped and replaced by the following:
4.20pm Cricket
WCC 1985 semifinal, New Zealand v India - live from the Sydney Cricket Ground
6.30 News
6.40 Cricket (Continued)
8.00 News
8.40 Cricket (Continued)
12.30am News
12.35 Closedown
TV2
2.30pm Prisoner
3.25 General Hospital
3.50 Eight Is Enough (Rpt)
4.50 Animals, Animals, Animals
5.10 That Girl
5.45 News
5.50 Te Karere
For East Coast viewers this bulletin screened on TV One
6.00 The Young Doctors
6.30 The Sullivans
7.30 Highway to Heaven
8.30 The Tuesday Documentary: Aristocrats
9.30 Eye Witness News
10.00 1915 (Rpt)
11.00 Hawaii Five-O
12.00am Closedown
1 Like
Surprised they had Prisoner on during the day. Iâm pretty sure it had to be aired in the evening in Australia (after 8pm or so) due to the content.
1 Like
@Brianc68 TVNZ had no plans to have Prisoner scheduled for evening viewing, so it had to be aired at 2.30pm on certain afternoons of the week (e.g. letâs say Monday and Tuesday). Reruns were shown at around 11pm on a Thursday.
1 Like
Ten gave it had an afternoon (around 1.00pm) re-run in the mid-1990s but it didnât last long. Outside of school holidays, adults only content could air between midday and 3pm on weekdays.
There was a time during its original run in Australia that Channel Ten showed it at 7.30pm but it had to comply with âPGRâ classification at that timeslot.
I was more surprised to find that in its original run in the US on some independent stations it was stripped Monday to Friday as half-hour episodes often around 5 or 5.30 in the afternoon. Peak kids viewing time.
1 Like
Yep? Whatâs the point of your post mate? It seems unnecessary.
1 Like
What is Peterâs Adventures?
@Michael_S âPeterâs Adventuresâ was a short-form animated series for preschoolers about a lion-trainer named Peter. It was produced by Hungaro Films, although some people have never heard of it.
Just giving people some trivia based on my previous posts.
Iâm very interested in shows people have never heard of and I was wondering if you happened to know some of the crew, narrator, writer for instance?