TVNZ's blog

TVNZ’s MARAE INVESTIGATES is holding a celebration of Maori achievement with a special awards programme – Maori of the Year 2011.

The one-hour special will air LIVE in February on the eve of Waitangi Day 2012.

Individuals and organisations can nominate people they believe are deserving of recognition and a panel of judges will select the award winners.

Nominations can be made in the following categories and the only criteria is that those nominated must have excelled for themselves and/or for their whanau, hapu and iwi and thus enhanced the mana of Maori generally.

•             Reo/Tikanga
•             Community Service
•             Treaty Issues
•             Sport
•             Business
•             Arts
•             Science/Technology/Innovation
•             Health
•             Education

Nominations will close on Sunday 8th of January.  Click here for information and to complete your nomination form.

ONE NEWS continues to be the news programme of choice for New Zealanders.

In 2011, on average, ONE NEWS had double the audience during the news hour compared to 3 News. ONE NEWS boasts an impressive 660,000 people on average compared to 3 News’ 331,000.

During major news events this year including the Royal Wedding and the Rugby World Cup period, the gap was even wider; with ONE NEWS’ average audience lifting to 680,000, whereas 3 News dropped to an average audience of 329,000.

TV ONE’s Editor of Daily News Programmes, Paul Patrick says: “We’re thrilled that New Zealanders have chosen us day after day as their preferred programme, and continue to turn to us during those times where major events are affecting the country and the world.

“We’re committed to delivering New Zealanders what they want and need during these times, providing bulletins they can rely on and delivering the best this country’s journalists’ have to offer on a daily basis.

“Next year looks set to be another full news year with the US Elections and London Olympics, and ONE NEWS will be right there in the thick of it.”

*source: Nielsen TAM
Period: 1 January – 19 December 2011
Demographic: All people aged 5 years and over
**up to 30/12/11

TVNZ has appointed Ross Dagan as the company’s new Head of News and Current Affairs, Maori and Pacific Programmes.

Ross Dagan is currently Director of News, Sydney, for Network 10 Australia.

He is an experienced News executive who has held senior roles with Network 10 in Sydney and Brisbane, was Programme Editor for Aljazeera English in Kuala Lumpur, and was Director of News after holding various senior Reporter, Producer, and Bureau Chief roles with Seven Network in Queensland.

Mr Dagan will join TVNZ early in 2012.

Close Up presenter Mark Sainsbury finds it odd to be “making history” as the first person in Australasia to be immortalised as a Muppet by Disney.  The “Mark Muppet” will make his television debut on Close Up at 7pm tonight.

The Muppet sports Sainsbury’s signature moustache, a blue jacket, white shirt and a tie.  It was made in New York by The Muppet Workshop – Disney’s official muppet makers.

Sainsbury said the tribute came after Close Up producer and keen puppeteer Chris Lynch, who was mad about doing something on The Muppets, was sent to the US to do a “dream interview with Miss Piggy and Kermit”.

While in Los Angeles Lynch said he suggested using a puppet to interview the Muppets.

“Disney said they would prefer a human to be the reporter, but offered to make a “Mark Muppet” for us,” Lynch said.

Sainsbury said he thought Lynch was joking when he came back and said it had been given the go ahead.

“I thought it was odd at the time to be Muppetised – I didn’t even know that was a word.”

“The Muppets are such a legend. I thought wow, I didn’t appreciate what a big deal it was.”

Sainsbury, who grew up watching the show, said the Muppet has a green body and face with a blue nose which is “a bit weird”.

Close Up will also feature Lynch’s story on one person’s obsession with The Muppets tonight.

The Muppet will make his first public appearance at the Starship foundation film premiere on Sunday.

All proceeds raised from the event will go towards the rebuild of the Medical Specialties and Neuroservices at Starship.

Next weekend the Muppet is making a guest appearance on What Now and at the TVNZ Kids Xmas party.

Disney’s new movie The Muppets opens in New Zealand on December 29.

ONE News asked Colmar Brunton to crunch one more set of numbers around the election.  We wanted to know how accurate the major political polls were in the lead up to the poll that really counts, Saturday’s General Election.

The final analysis showed the ONE News Colmar Brunton poll recorded the least amount of difference with the actual party vote across the parties that were returned to Parliament, compared to any of the other pollsters.  

They stacked up like this:

1. ONE News Colmar Brunton
2. NZ Herald DigiPoll
3. Roy Morgan
4. 3 News Reid Research
5. Fairfax Media Research International

The detailed results are reported in the table below. 

Kiwiblog’s David Farrar has done his own analysis with similar results, http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/11/how_the_pollsters_did.html

Viewer analysis showed that over 2.2 million people tuned in to TV ONE’s coverage of the election and election results across the weekend, see further ratings below.

ANALYSIS OF MAJOR POLLS IN LEAD UP TO GENERAL ELECTION

* Date poll was reported, not field dates

TELEVISION NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS AUDIENCES FOR ELECTION 2011

                        TV ONE                                                                       TV 3

   SOURCE:    Nielsen TAM (Measurement: All people 5 years and over – average daily audience nationwide).

* SOURCE:   Nielsen TAM (Measurement: All people 5+ nationwide – average daily reach). 

Because of the length of the election night programmes this measurement recognises that viewers may tune in for long periods but not watch the entire 5 hour broadcast.

~ SOURCE:   Nielsen TAM (Measurement: All people 5+ nationwide – average daily reach). 

Because of the diverse range of topics and interest on these shows this measurement recognises that viewers may tune in just for one interview/story and shows the total number of viewers who tune in across the hour. 

    NOTE:        Audience figures are for first screenings only and do not include repeats – The Nation’s Sunday programme is included this week because it was a first screening.

Get involved and make your vote count as you have your say on the Auckland Daze finale. 

Auckland Daze is giving viewers the opportunity to cast their vote and have a say on all the important issues. Should Millen pick Natalie or Jacqui when it comes time to choose his love? What will become of Jimmy and his quest for a big break on the acting circuit? Should Fasi choose Kerry over comedy and finally, will Glenjamin go after his dream Wanda woman?

Next week is the finale of Auckland Daze, an episode to end things for the season and viewers are put to the poll as they’re asked just how this should be done. From today, Friday 25th November to midday Tuesday 29th, viewers will have the opportunity to vote on how the series should end for each of our wannabes.

Starring Millen Baird (The Millen Baird Show), Jennifer Ward-Lealand (Xena: Warrior Princess), Natalie Medlock (Shortland Street), Glen Levy, the stuntman described by National Geographic as “the 20th deadliest man on the planet”, Jimmy James Fletcher (Jono’s New Show), Fasitua Amosa (Go Girls), Jacqui Nauman (Go Girls) and Kerry Warkia.

Check out the Auckland Daze Facebook page for extra content, to interact with the crew and post your vote for the series finale.

Auckland Daze was produced with funding from NZ On Air and will be available to view at TVNZ Ondemand. ‘Like’ Auckland Daze on Facebook to watch episodes and extra content. facebook.com/aucklanddaze.

TV2 continues to be the channel of choice for 18-39-year-olds, reaching an impressive milestone on Saturday night by achieving 150 consecutive weeks in the number one ratings spot for this demographic. 

The big hitters amongst this demographic are local drama Shortland Street, and the comedy Wednesday line up of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. Research shows that in the past 150 weeks, 44 of the 50 highest rating series’ were screened on TV2*, and 143 of the 150 most watched episodes among 18-39 year olds have been on TV2*.

Head of TV ONE and TV2 Jeff Latch says that TV2 is the consistent hit channel with outstanding comedies, dramas and movies, both locally and internationally.

“We have positioned TV2 as the home of entertainment, and this fantastic achievement cements it as Kiwis’ favourite channel. This has been made possible by a commitment from the entire TV2 team from programming to marketing to commissioning to promo directors.”

Head of Sales and Marketing Paul Maher says this achievement highlights TVNZ’s ability to deliver consistent high ratings to its customers.

“We strive to deliver value across our entire schedule, every day of the week, week in and week out. TV2′s achievement is testament to this; we are not relying on one programme, or one night to deliver ratings.”

TV2 Programmer John Kelly says the best is yet to come.

“The distributors and production houses that we work with continue to deliver us outstanding content, and the whole TV2 team are excited about the fantastic line up of shows that we are launching in New Season 2012.”

Other big success stories for TV2 have been Neighbours at War, Desperate Housewives, Hot in Cleveland, My Kitchen Rules, Police Ten 7, Grey’s Anatomy and Motorway Patrol, all shows that will be returning in 2012. They will be joined by new shows that are already proving popular in the US, such as Once Upon a Time, Two Broke Girls and Revenge.

So far in 2011, 19 of the most watched 20 programmes in the 18-39 demographic have been on TV2.**

Five TVNZ journalists have been named as finalists in the prestigious Sir Terry McLean National Sports Journalism Awards.

The time period for eligibility was extended to include the Rugby World Cup.

Sport presenter, Andrew Saville is a finalist in the Sports Broadcast Feature category for his RWC commentaries including his call of the All Blacks beating France in the final.  Saville was joined in the commentary box by former All Blacks Jeff Wilson & Taine Randell.

Senior journalist, Craig Stanaway is also a finalist in the Sports Broadcast Feature category.  Stanaway’s portfolio included a long form current affairs story for SUNDAY profiling father of eight, Andrew Stroud whose day job is riding a Superbike at 300 km/h.   

Saville and Stanaway are competing against broadcasting heavyweights – Sky TV’s lead RWC Commentator Grant Nisbett and TV3’s John Campbell for this award.

ONE News Pacific Island correspondent, Barbara Dreaver is a finalist in the Television Sports News Reporting category.  Dreaver’s portfolio included stories on Jonah Lomu returning to Tonga after 15 years to promote the RWC, NZ Rugby League cancelling the test against the Cook Islands and the IRB warning the Tongan Rugby Union about political interference.

Dreaver is up against specialist sports journalists Michelle Pickles and Jim Keyes from TV3.

Two young, talented journalists from TVNZ are finalists considered for the Sir John Wells Sports Journalism Scholarship.  Dunedin based reporter, Max Bania’s portfolio included the reaction of Ritchie McCaw’s home town of Kurow following the RWC final.  Digital media journalist, Andrew Fernando’s portfolio included a story for ESPNcrickinfo on Black Cap Tim Southee and a humorous piece for tvnz.co.nz called “Too much pressure on Daniel Carter’s groin.” 

Category winners are considered for the supreme award.  Andrew Saville is a previous recipient of Sports Journalist of the Year, known then as the ‘T.P. McLean Award’.

TVNZ Chairman, Sir John Anderson, today announced the resignation of CEO Rick Ellis, who will be joining Telstra in Australia in January 2012.

Mr Ellis will be leading a new Telstra division called Telstra Digital Media, as Group Managing Director – Digital Media, with responsibility for Telstra’s Sensis, Bigpond, Trading Post and IPTV businesses, and Telstra’s partnership with Foxtel.

Sir John Anderson acknowledged Mr Ellis’s cumulative 10 years of service as TVNZ CEO, during which time TV ONE and TV2 consolidated their leadership position in the New Zealand free-to-air television market, and the company diversified into digital media areas including on-line, pay TV channels, and new digital free-to-air channels.

The latest ONE News Colmar Brunton poll shows National support is down one point to 53%, Labour has dropped to a ten year low with 26% and the Green Party has picked up Labour party votes to put them on a record high of 13%.

“NZ First has had more attention recently but in this poll has less than half the support it needs to get back into Parliament.  None of the other minor parties have much PARTY VOTE support but the newly formed Conservative Party has begun to blip on the radar”, says TVNZ Political Editor, Guyon Espiner.

Colmar Brunton interviewed 1,006 eligible voters between 12th – 16th November.  The poll concluded last night and covered the entire period that the Tea Tapes story has been dominating news bulletins.

“The results of this poll show that if an election were held today National would govern alone with 66 seats.  Based on current coalition partners and assuming electorate seats are held, National could add in four seats from the Maori Party, two from ACT and one from United Future.

“Labour would pick up 32 seats.  The Greens would be a significant force with 16 MPs but that would not be enough to form a government even if the Mana Party was added.  On current polling Annette Sykes would join Hone Harawira in Parliament for Mana.

“Mr Key has been under huge pressure over the secret tape recording but this poll shows it hasn’t significantly hurt his personal support.   John Key has dropped back two points in the preferred prime minister poll but retains 53% support.  Phil Goff is on 13%.

“The Tea Tape story has deprived Labour of media attention and according to this Colmar Brunton poll, it hasn’t hurt National or benefited NZ First.  The big winners over the last week are the Greens who are on track for a record number of MPs.

Summary of ONE NEWS COLMAR BRUNTON Poll Results

(Interviewing conducted 12-16 Nov)

PARTY SUPPORT – PARTY VOTE
National 53% Down 1% (from 5-9 Nov poll)
Labour 26% Down 2%
Green Party 13% Up 4%
ACT NZ 2% Steady
The Maori Party 2% Steady
NZ First 2% Down 1%
Conservative Party 1% Steady
Mana Party1% Up 1%

PARLIAMENTARY SEATS
National 66
Labour 32
Green Party 16
Maori Party 4*
ACT 2
Mana Party 2
United Future NZ 1*
TOTAL 123
* Indicates one or more overhang seats   

PREFERRED PRIME MINISTER
Key 53% Down 2% (from 5-9 Nov poll)
Goff 13% Down 1%
Peters 3% Steady

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%. 

Interviewing took place from 12th – 16th November 2011.

The data has been weighted to Department of Statistics Population Estimates to ensure it is representative of the population in terms of age, gender, household size and ethnic origin.