Remember this?
A young Tom Scott had worked in television news as a journalist and, when TV2 South Pacific Television (now TVNZ 2) came along on 30 June 1975, was TV2’s regional editor out of Christchurch (which, according to The Press, its newsroom was staffed by 12 reporters). He went on to become one of New Zealand’s outstanding writers, satirists and cartoonists.
Image courtesy of The Press and the National Library of New Zealand, digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Thank you so much Paddy. I recall that the 3D movie Gorilla at Large was a bit of a let down after the big hype.
I must have watch Dillinger the week before, but definitely remember watching in in the school holidays of January 1988. It was a late night summer movie.
Love and appreciate the work you do on here Paddy!
@Skud In fact, the 1945 film Dillinger, in black and white, was shown on TV One (now TVNZ 1) at 12.15am on the evening of Tuesday 5 January 1988 (overnight Wednesday) - right after live coverage of a World Series Cricket match between NZ and Sri Lanka at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground).
After the 6.30pm news, the concluding stages of the first 50-overs innings were shown at 7pm and followed by the conclusion of a two-part miniseries, Inside the Third Reich (at 8pm), then the midevening news (at 9.45pm). There’s more cricket from the SCG at 10pm, with the film Dillinger to wrap up the evening on TV One. Closedown at 1.25am.
Over on Network Two (now TVNZ 2), the previous week’s Monday night movie - at 9pm on the evening of Monday 18 January 1988 - was the 1979 drama Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood. It was based on the true story of the 1962 breakout from the prison on Alcatraz.
Thanks very much!
He didn’t along with Muldoon all that well. In fact he got banned from attending his weekly press conferences at the Beehive.
How did you find that image of the 1981 TVNZ ident (with the blue sky and clouds background)? What does the 1981 TVNZ ident go like, and what music did they use?
That was the ident TVNZ used before the one with the starry sky transitioning into sunset clouds, played to synthesizer music.
In the 1:31 mark of this music video I randomly stumbled upon, you see sped-up footage (lasts for 8 seconds) of the RTR Top 20 countdown (chart date 26th July 1981). I’m sure the RTR intro they used at the time was the one with neon graphics and tie fighters playing to Commodores’s “Machine Gun”, and that was before they changed the intro to a very 1980’s synthy one in 1983.
And that’s where I saw a quick glimpse of the 1981 TVNZ ident (in 1:39 mark of the music video), before it goes to the 6:30 News, with the Springboks protests headlining the news bulletin.
@Trent_Jordan At the start of a media commentary/satire programme called Eating Media Lunch (hosted by Jeremy Wells of Seven Sharp fame); it was first shown on TVNZ in 2003.
In the 0:11 mark of the YouTube link (above), the 1981 TVNZ ident began with the starry sky. Then came the four stars which made up the Southern Cross, followed by the zoom-out view of a TV screen-like rectangle with the blue sky and clouds in the background. At the same time, the starry sky within the rectangle, which made up the modified TVNZ logo, disappeared. In the end, the two colours (blue and red) within the logo and the name “TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND” faded in. The music stayed exactly the same as the 1980 TVNZ ident, although its duration was reduced from about 15 to 10 seconds.
Hey thanks a lot Paddy! You really seem to be interested about New Zealand TV in the 1970’s and the 1980’s. But still, thanks!
Here’s New Zealand’s TV test card, known as “T1”, inspired by the BBC’s famous Test Card F.
Don’t forget about me. 
Might try and get the cloud ident for the channel.
@Trent_Jordan Here is a selection of test cards (supplied by Robert Copeman via the now-defunct Geocities):
NZBC TV Test Card F - circa February 1975
TV One Test Card F - circa October 1978
TV2 South Pacific Television Test Card F - circa October 1978
South Pacific Television T1 Test Card - circa October 1979
And yes, you are right! A test card, as shown above and accompanied by a randomly assorted selection of music, would appear on screen and run for up to two hours before the start of a typical day’s transmission on TV One (now TVNZ 1) and South Pacific Television (SPTV), later TV2 (now TVNZ 2).
By 1985 the test cards were replaced by Teletext in Vision, a selection of pages from TVNZ’s now-defunct Teletext service with music in a 15 minute, ‘in-vision’ format. If you did not have a Teletext TV then Teletext in Vision would be available to you for 15 minutes before the start of a typical day’s transmission on the TVNZ channels. Teletext was brimming with over 800 hours of up-to-the-minute news, sport, weather, television listings and other kinds of information.
Imagine if my dream television network - PTV Network New Zealand (Patrick Te Pou Enterprises Ltd), as a fictional broadcaster - became a reality. It has 12 linear television channels in which I created; three of which (including two music channels and a news/information channel) run 24 hours a day.
Pursuant to an agreement with MediaWorks and instead of running Brand Developers/TV Shop and religious infomercials, you’d see a channel specific test card (inspired by the BBC’s famous Test Card F and the T1 test card from the old SPTV/TVNZ era) and hear audio from a MediaWorks radio brand (e.g. Today FM, The Edge, Magic, The Rock, More FM, The Breeze etc) over the test card, with the inclusion of local voice breaks for Auckland mentioning Auckland frequency (e.g. Today FM on 90.2FM & 702AM) and region specific content for Auckland (e.g. commercial advertising/sponsorship, weather and traffic) where possible.
Here’s a sample of one of the test cards in which I created, although it is off-topic.
TVNZ made changes to its programme schedules in February 1987. TV One (now TVNZ 1) and Network Two (now TVNZ 2) would each take a separate identity with the appointment of two new channel controllers.
Harold Anderson returned from the UK, where he had worked at the BBC as its assistant head of sport, to become controller of TV One.
John Barningham returned from Australia, where he had worked at Crawfords out of Melbourne, to become controller of Network Two. He was replaced later that year by John McRae.
The new look TV One was aiming at an older age demographic and featured quality dramas, comedies and documentaries with a greater focus on British content, as well as news, sport and current affairs. Network Two would lean towards US and Australian content, showing light entertainment, popular dramas, blockbuster movies and most children’s programmes.
But in the meantime, take a closer look at the image below.
As TV One geared up for a fresh new look in 1987, the Friz Quadrata typeface and modified “ONE” symbol were introduced in the first half of that year. However, the old TV One symbol (circa 1982-86) was still seen in promotional trailers within the first half!
Things started to change in the final week of July 1987 as TVNZ’s spring season commenced.
The revamped TV One symbol, as shown above, was introduced in the second half of 1987 but the Friz Quadrata typeface in all on-air promotional material remained unchanged. The channel ident was produced in the United States by Rhythm & Hues, a Los Angeles based company specialising in visual effects and computer animation. In addition, the most famous TV One theme tune was commissioned.
All images: Supplied. No copyright infringement intended.
That is awesome, I wished that TVNZ would sell TV2 off to Private company back in 1986 ever when Ian Fraser wanted TV One to be a ad free public service channel like the ABC so it will not have to compete with TV2 and the upcoming channel TV3.
Look what just uploaded!
Includes the TVNZ “Your Team” outside coverage promo, and the “TWO” ident.
The Week with Two was a short, weekly preview of programmes to come on TV2 (now TVNZ 2) during the early 1980s. It initially aired at around 6.50pm on a Sunday night before moving to Saturday nights and changing its name to The Week with 2 by 1982 and then Preview 2 by 1983.
Meanwhile, The Week with One was presented in much the same manner as The Week with Two and gave viewers a sneak peek of what’s coming up on TV One (now TVNZ 1) over the next week. It was shown on Friday nights until it ended around 1985.
I bet the TV One ident from 1981 would more or less be the same as TV Two’s, except the colours of the 4-pointed stars and the logo are contrasted (much like TV One and TV Two “flag” logos from 1980 would have opposite colours from each other).
For example, the 4-pointed star fading out of the starry sky would be coloured blue, the 4 stars (that make the then-new TVNZ logo) splitting out of the blue 4-pointed star would be coloured red, and the “ONE” logo text at the end of the ident would also be coloured blue.
I was living in Australia from 87-93 so I wasn’t here when the ratings system for television was introduced, so can someone tell me when they introduced it, was it a government directive or did TVNZ themselves implement it.
@Damo You mean programme classifications?
By mid-1989, as broadcasting was deregulated in New Zealand, we were introduced to new programme classifications: G, PGR and AO (based on Australia’s until September 1993).
Aline Sandilands, TVNZ’s general manager of public relations at the time, replied to one viewer as published in the “Letters” section of the NZ Listener (15 July 1991):
The system of programme classification and what time each classification can play was established by a working party which included representatives from TVNZ and TV3.
The recommended structure was then submitted to and accepted by the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Classifications and where they can play are as follows:
G (General) may be screened at any time;
PGR (Parental Guidance Recommended) recommended for screening between 9am and 4pm weekdays and after 7pm until 6am;
AO (Adults Only) recommended for screening between midday and 3pm on weekdays (except during school and public holidays) and after 8.30pm until 5am.
By the end of 1991, the screening of PGR programmes between 9am-4pm was extended to weekends and the timebands/classifications had remained unchanged since.
That was until 1 May 2020 when the timebands and classifications were changed to a common system for free-to-air television, subscription television and on-demand services. Classifications are as follows:
The following descriptor codes (audience advisories) may be added for programmes classified PG or higher:
Stumbled upon this on Reddit, Some Teletext pages from 2010
Hi everyone. I know this is a long shot. But would anyone have the old MTV NZ/TVNZ show Havoc saved?
Nga Taonga, the film archive have a lot of the episodes on vhs and some not digitally available.
I’m after the episode where Havoc (Mikey Havoc) interviews Noel Gallagher. It was March 1998. March 11 or 12 to be precise.
Nga Taonga have all episodes of season 2 apart from this one. So annoying!
I think it’s a piece of history gone forever
