TVNZ 7 launches today at 12pm with Kingmaker debate

Factual channel TVNZ 7 launches today at 12pm live from Parliament with The Kingmaker Debate, the first political debate this election year between the minor party leaders.

The ad-free channel is available on Freeview. The debate will also stream live online – click here to view »

We met with Eric Kearley this week to discuss the channel. Read more »

TVNZ 7′s concept is to enable more NZ voices to be heard on TV. It will increase public service broadcasting. It will increase the accessibility of TV ONE and 2′s content by allocating prime time slots to shows which normally are only able to be screened at other times.

It aims to help foster our national identity by having more New Zealand content on TV and provide more space and time for different viewpoints to be aired. It will also provide another reason for people to get Freeview.

Documentaries screened on TVNZ 7 will be introduced by Kiwi presenters and put into a NZ context.

The news hour at 8pm will actually be 56 minutes of news (4 minutes of channel promotions) so will provide plenty of time for longer, more in-depth interviews. I observed that this will provide TVNZ as a whole more chances to make/break news stories which will cross over between the two channels.

The TVNZ 7 team have been broadcasting just within TVNZ’s buildings for the last two weeks. We got to see one of the TVNZ News Now bulletins while we were there. It’s presented in front of the news room area, not in a studio. TVNZ News at 8 will be presented from a smaller news studio which looks very similar to the main news studio. The ONE News at 4:30pm bulletin will start broadcasting from there too – all that’s changed is a slide-in section in the front of the desk changing the show’s name.

I’m most looking forward to Russell Brown’s Media 7 show – a multi-media news and commentary series. We’re going to the first filming this Tuesday night (it airs Wednesday). Back Benches, a weekly political review show, hosted by Wallace Chapman, may also be appointment viewing. Naturally, it’s filmed in the character-filled Backbencher pub.

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Co-founder of Throng. Favourite TV shows recently: Homeland and The Newsroom.
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  • dannews

    I’m on the couch with my popcorn ready.
    TVNZ7 party at my place ppl! :P

  • me

    Does anyone else get really excited watching a new channel launch? I am finding the “origami” New Zealand and the countdown strangely addictive viewing right now haha!

    Still remember watching TV3, C4, Maori TV, MTV NZ, TVNZ 6 launch.

  • Glennis

    I like the branding for TVNZ 7: very light/clean/airy feeling. I can’t wait to see how the 8pm news bulletin compares to the 6pm one. Might end up being my main news watching of the day if it means more in-depth NZ news, and not just silly soundbites.

    The debate this afternoon is a fantastic kick-off for the channel. Will be interesting to see who looks strong/weak with their policies this far out. I’m particularly interested in hearing the Maori party and ACT party’s comments. Not interested in hearing Winston or Mr Sensible but boring Peter Dunne. Oh and will the new Kiwi party be invited??

  • Hey

    It’s Channel 25 on Freeview in case anyone is trying to find it; you’ll have to tune it in as well.

  • fun fun

    3 minutes to go :D

    You’re not the only one counting down!!

  • dannews

    *Pops party poppers*

  • who’s missing?

    One of the podiums looked like it was empty at first glance?

  • Winston sucks

    Stupid that Winston refused to be on the debate!!!

    And no Kiwi party either heh.

  • what a joke

    Jeanette’s speech was hilarious. Since when has air quality been proven as the cause of cancer anyone?

  • Rachel

    Very interesting that Winston Peters turned down the offer of being on the debate today.

    Wonder how many times the word sustainable will be mentioned this hour hehe.

  • Glennis

    Jim Anderton didn’t really have a vision for the future, he just outlined what had been achieved recently.

  • me

    I like the scroller down the bottom with stats.

  • dannews

    Sexy News Promo

  • dannews

    Launch:

  • dannews

    News Now:

  • me

    Guyon Espiner did a great job running the debate.

    Thought Rodney Hide stood out the most for me as “winning” the debate.

  • Glennis

    Agreed – a worthwhile and insightful debate into the minor parties. Jim Anderton didn’t add anything useful – was great when Peter Dunne pulled him up for saying crime was on the decline (when violent crime is actually on the increase). Pita Sharples added a good viewpoint on many issues. Rodney Hide was the debate winner, providing real vision for the future of the country (especially economically).

  • Tui (logged out)

    Just arrived back from the launch – it was a great event! Cool goodie bags too….I’ll post in detail when I’m back in New Plymouth, which should be later tonight.
    The debate was awesome – you probably would have seen me as the audience who asked questions were sitting in the row in front of me.
    I was disapointed to see the TVNZ News opener was idenitcal to ONE News’ – like the old TVNZ, TV ONE and TWO days when it all first merged together, they shared the same ident.

  • DanielM

    Liked it and it was a great way to start the channel. Guyon was really good – isn’t this his first political debate since becoming the Head Political Editor for One News?

    TVNZ News Now was interesting. Noticed that you could hardly tell if there were rain symbols due to the bright blue. I was interested in how it dedicated some time to certain international stories which I thought was good, but interested in the sound-bite pieces for local news (TVNZ are going to need to improve on this). Can’t wait to see TVNZ News at 8, I’m already preparing for it to be my main news channel.

    I wasn’t that interesting in TVNZ6, but for TVNZ7 I woke up and turned on the TV waiting for the countdown to reach zero. Speaking of countdowns what did people think about the countdown to the news? I thought it was good, but music a wee bit lacking.

  • Gavin J

    I am pretty happy with the news bulletins – the only thing I dislike is the lack of sport. I know that there is no major sport news at present, but at the end of all 3 bulletins, they have said “That’s the latest news, sport and weather”, when there has been no sport in any of them. Surely they must know that there was no sport in the bulletin?

  • Rachel

    Yeah I noticed that too – although there were rolling sport updates at the bottom (something about UK football was one I saw).

  • Just me

    Print this off, whata joke!
    http://images.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_images/tvnz7/tvnz7_schedule.pdf
    sums up the whole free to air TV station

  • dannews

    How so Just Me?

  • Rachel

    Mediawatch interviews Eric Kearley about TVNZ 7, Freeview, Sky and more. Direct MP3 link »

  • Just me

    Well there is nothing worth watching, dannews, nothing at all.

  • Rachel

    On the contrary, I think their 8pm news is really impressive. It’s amazing just how much you can fit into an hour when you don’t have ads – plus it’s way more in-depth.

    I really like Geraline Knox too.

  • dannews

    Extended interviews on TVNZ News at 8. I am loving it!

  • DanielM

    I agree Rachel. I was very impressed with the news bulletin, I was a bit upset that I had to stop to record something else halfway through. I thought they went on a bit about the political debate though, but having the political science lecturer come in was great. Having John Key was a bit “meh” as he was another politician trying to get around questions asked of him trying to not step on any toes!

    Even having the wrap-ups was good. I’m going to watch this from now on I think. I think the 10 minute bulletins could do with an “in brief” section to try and fit more news into them.

    Exhausted from all the news watching today! Early days yet, and I think TVNZ should start to spread out a little more (like have more than just one reporter in the US) to provide an even better service and not have to depend so much on the likes of BBC and ABC.

  • dannews

    Oh 5 Day forecast! Nice.

  • Tui

    Really enjoyed TVNZ News @ 8, but find it silly to have TVNZ News Now straight afterwards – it’s a repeat of all the news we just saw! hmm. Ticker reminds me of Flipside :D

  • ell

    who is reading the 9pm bulletin?

  • Gavin J

    I thought the 8pm bulletin was great. I really enjoyed the extended interviews and regular headline updates. I will definitely be watching this instead of the 6pm news! Tui – I agree with you about the 9pm bulletin, but when they say “on the hour, every hour” I suppose they have to stick to that – but the headlines at the end of the 8pm bulletin could be taken off so it’s not repeating within a minute! All in all I’m very impressed. Well Done TVNZ!

  • regan

    I thought the kingmakers debate was pretty good. Everyone but Jim Anderton seemed to add substance to the debate.

    I’m wondering if Winston’s absence from the debate will be mirrored come the election results. People like to see politicians doing some work and making an effort to front up. I have a feeling that Winston doesn’t care about the party vote this time as he probably needs to focus all his attention on Tauranga if he wants to stay in the game.

  • Tui

    Some photos from the launch today:





  • Rachel

    Heh, Paul Holmes was there.

  • DanielM

    You could also see Paul Holmes in the media audience during the Kingmakers Debate in a couple of shots.

  • Tui

    Yup. He came over and sat at our table, and couldn’t remember going to the shorty party last year at first lol. But he was interesting to talk to again :)

    Miriama Kamo hosted the launch “lunch” event. We didn’t get to see the onscreen launch because at 11.45 we had to move into the chamber and take our seats.

    The goodie bags are cool: they are made out of marital (like eco-bags) unlike the paper TVNZ 6 ones. They had a caricature of the debate, a TVNZ 7 pen (flash too), hardcover TVNZ 7 notebook, TVNZ 7 media kit, stickers and a DVD.

  • bobscoffee

    wonder if there’ll be a new show on tvnz7 for paul holmes in the future?

  • Tui

    never say never

  • DanielM

    Why did they play a story during the 9pm bulletin that was on One News yesterday? And why didn’t the lead story during the 9pm bulletin appear during the 8pm news hour (as breaking news or something)?