TVNZ confirms Shortland Street will be back for the 2026 season under NZ on Air funding.
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Itâs easy to get confused with the various brands and their ownership. With Discovery NZâs free-to-air television business now sold to Sky Network Television (trading as Sky NZ) for only $1 and the acquisition complete (as at 1 August 2025), Sky Free was created as a business unit of Sky which already has a free-to-air channel, Sky Open.
Three, Bravo, eden, Rush and HGTV, as well as the streaming platform ThreeNow, now operate under the Sky Free banner.
The other channels - Discovery, TLC, Investigation Discovery (ID), Discovery Turbo, Animal Planet and Living - are indeed still under the ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). These are subscription channels, not free-to-air channels, and WBD continues to license its content to Sky to be broadcast as part of its subscription packages. This is a common arrangement in the media industry.
The updated URL (skyfree.co.nz) and the new logo (above) are a clear signal of the transition of the free-to-air properties to Skyâs ownership. The fact that the WBD website for the subscription channels remains the same further reinforces that those specific channels were not part of the acquisition.
This strategic move allows Sky to consolidate its position in the New Zealand media market by having a strong presence in the free-to-air and subscription sectors. It also ensures WBD can continue to have a presence in New Zealand by licensing its content to a key partner, without the financial burden of managing the free-to-air business.
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Is it funded this year by NZ on Air just that it is less funding and that is why 3 episodes a week?
Crazy that here in Australia Home and Away airs extra episodes sometimes it seems the only soap doing decently after so many years in the region. Investing in new sets , going interstate filming etc.. Neighbours gone.
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They get some funding from NZ on air but donât think they fund all of it.
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âIt is now transitioning to a commercially funded, digitally delivered show.â
Will be interesting if this ever comes to fruition.
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Im not sure CTI and The Traitors should get public money while Fair Go and Sunday were left to die. Canât these reality shows gain funding through sponsorship or in programme product placement.
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Awesome! Loved The Traitors and happy its got funding for a new season.
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Yeah, it will have been better for both shows to get commercial sponsorships instead.
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I think the biggest issue for Fair Go was how often businesses were seen in a bad light. I imagine it put advertisers off. All the more reason for TVNZ to approach NZ On Air to help fund it. I canât remember if they did or not?
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I donât think TVNZ approached NZ on Air for funding which would make sense imho. I guess TVNZ doesnât want to upset itâs advertiserâs in an already challenging and fragmented market.
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The Spinoffâs take on this (note: their video series Now You Know is funded by NZ on Air):
I think reality and soaps are more able to be syndicated worldwide versus NZ-specific current affairs, which might have been part of the ânational identity/cultural significanceâ reasoning? To what extent that kind of lifestyle/culture are highlighted on these shows is another question though.
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Funding though can get them made in the first place and perhaps in the long run bring more money into the industry.
The Australian version of game show The Floor, hosted by Rodger Corser, premieres on Three on August 17. It will be shown at 7pm Sundays and 7.30pm Mondays. The first season was a ratings hit in Australia with each episode pulling overall 1 million viewers nationally. The show is shot in Amsterdam with recording of season two to take place later this year.
Contestant profiles
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Lisa Holmes, the winner of Survivor New Zealand: Thailand in 2018, is one of seven international competitors on Survivor: Australia v The World, premiering on TVNZ 2 on Thursday, August 21 at 7.30pm, four days after the Australian debut. Divided into two tribes of seven, the Aussie tribe, comprising of returning Australian players, would take on the World tribe, comprising of players from international editions including US, South Africa, New Zealand, Finland and Quebec, over 16 days in Samoa. It is the final season to be hosted by actor Jonathan LaPaglia, following Channel 10âs decision to dump him from the role in June this year.
The show will air once per week, at 7.30pm Thursdays.
Also, TVNZ 2 will screen an extra episode of MasterChef Australia tonight and five episodes next week (August 11-15). The contestant reunion on Wednesday, the semi-final on Thursday and the grand final on Friday will be shown three days after the Australian broadcast.
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William Philipson, Shortland Streetâs score composer and music editor, has released some of the original score from last yearâs series.
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With Sky Free, are they going to move Sky Open into that company? Or keep it separate? Iâd assume itâd make more sense to run Sky Open under Sky Free. Or possibly sell it off and move what they can to Three?
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I think theâll more likely cherry pick the bits the want out of SF and eventually write it off / shut it down.
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Agreed @TV4 . Once they siphon off sport onto TV3 there is nothing left to justify a seperate channel. Without sport Sky Open is just a replica of Eden channel so they may as well fold whats left of Sky Open into Eden and shut Sky Open down. It will save on tranmission costs at least.
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