The powers that be have quietly reduced the spectrum available for DTV… now down to 14 channels (7 pairs). Basically, it tops out at UHF 39 now. The only room for expansion now would be if SKY fired up their muxes again.
Source, RSM Updated Band Plan
Doubt it. It’s only the netball (for the record I like the sport).
It’s also a competition not involving NZ teams and they don’t have rights to the Silver Ferns tests either. Don’t think Sky will be losing too much sleep over this
I have to say it’s great being able to watch Star Trek Discovery on TVNZ ONDEMAND, but, one big problem with the show is it has what I call, it’s end credits in the first quarter of an episode. One of the problems is unlike Netflix, you cannot skip past the opening credits on TVNZ. It’s a good two minute sequence if not longer at times.
I know this may not seem like an issue for some but for me it’s annoying 
and with TVNZ’s insistence of becoming a media monopoly they need to seriously make improvements.
A feature like that will probably come when they introduce the premium on demand service. I’d hope anyway
A show called Parental Guidance premieres on Three this Wednesday (April 6) at 7.30pm. Screenscribe.net says it is season 2, but I think it is the first season of the Australian show hosted by Allison Langdon.
EDIT: confirmed it is the Allison Langdon show.
Lets them properly sell off the 600 MHz band for 5G mobile I guess. A bit ahead of that compared to us on the other side of the ditch, but obviously the decision to only have two groups of frequencies (unlike the five we have here, four of those in UHF) helps there.
Sometimes I’m surprised you even had six muxes though (occasionally a seventh for local TV, as per this table from 2019), even considering the desire for Sky to have a “top-up” pay-terrestrial service (which turned into Igloo I’m guessing) and the separate management arrangement that’s required for Maori TV.
Given the wind down of their services to just TV28 (ex-CTV8), does BNE (the old World TV*) need a full mux allocated to themselves, for instance - if they’re even using it and not the Kordia mux for TV28 already?
(* I presume that is what “WTV” is referring to in that PDF. May have still made sense when they were running close to ten channels, presumably the ones outside of CTV8 and WTV9 staying pay like they were on Sky.)
Yep, as it was never utilised for TV, it’s been easy for them to carve it off… not sure when it will go to the telcos, but it’s likely that’s where we’re heading.
I guess the volume of spectrum was probably ambitious, but no one really knew what the demands or interest would be in DTV, so I guess they were hedging their bets.
WTV/BNE seems a bit messy… I believe WTV is in liquidation, I’m not sure if their licenses will carry over to BNE or what’s happening there. Their frequencies were last paid for by WTV. Kordia makes the most out of those though, so I’d imagine they’ll chuck in a low-ball offer for them, who knows?
Yes, Sky’s bastard-child was called igloo. It’s long gone now and the mux has sat vacant ever since. They’re still paying their fee’s for it, so hopefully they actually do something with it, rather than just sit on it until 2032.
NZ’s managed to cram in a lot in a little bit of spectrum for DTV, which highlights how far radio engineering has come over the years. I’ve always wondered if Australia had held off DTV for a bit longer, if they’d have been able to streamline their spectrum plan a bit more… always going to be a challenge there with such intense market protectionism.
Edit/Update: World TV’s licenses look to have been subsumed by Kordia on all their Tx sites… JDA sites still cite WTV as the licensee, but that may just be a matter of time before JDA takes them (unless someone else does?)
Last night during Newshub Late, they announced that Three will air selected NRL and Origin matches LIVE on Three and ThreeNow. Rather interesting get for Three, but I doubt they would include any Warriors matches as Sky would have exclusivity.
This was flagged by the NRL and Sky when they re-upped their deal last year. Wouldn’t surprise me if they have the odd Warriors game live - it was mentioned the likes of the Anzac game v Melbourne could be one of those games.
Three also showed the Origin opener last year live.
Amazing! What a good play for the code.
Indeed, Three will show the Storm v Warriors game live from Melbourne next Monday from 8.30pm (kick off at 9pm).
I notice that NCIS: Hawai’i debuts on TVNZ2 next Tuesday (April 26) at 8.30pm, right up against the original NCIS on Three in the same timeslot. How is it possible given the two shows have the same distributor?
As NCIS on Three is two episodes ahead of NCIS: Hawai’i, there could be a programming issue in about three months’ time when the NCIS crossover with NCIS: Hawai’i occurs.
TVNZ have a output deal with ViacomCBS (now Paramount). The original falls under an ‘end of life’ clause with Three. NCIS: New Orleans is/(was?) on Prime.
Yes, the New Orleans one was on Prime
Spark Sport and World Rugby have today announced that Warner Bros. Discovery NZ will be the exclusive New Zealand free-to-air broadcast partner for Rugby World Cup 2021, which takes place from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in New Zealand.
All NZ games delayed until Semi’s & Finals (if the All Blacks get that far).
Black Ferns 
Wow interesting. Discovery probably outbidding TVNZ for these
The FTA package Discovery/Three has secured is worse than the one TVNZ had for the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2019. For the latter, TVNZ had the rights to show 13 games which consisted of:
Ha, woopsie… all these covid-offset competitions are getting a bit bamboozling.