The NZ Herald article quotes a spokesperson 

A TVNZ spokeswoman said, "We experienced an automation failure in our news studio this evening as our 6pm bulletin was set to go to air.

"This required our system to be reset and delayed our evening news coverage. 1 News at Six subsequently went to air at 6.08pm and we apologise to viewers for the delay."

I started watching the on deman copy at 8pm....One would think they would have edited that version....NUP nope nudda....it was as is. Ok, I could have skipped forward, but hands were dirty washing dishes....  plus I learnt all about blanching veges :-) 

Automation error understood... but they could have at least cut to live picture to show the presenters and give them a couple seconds to say "back soon" and then cut to their back up goto broadcast.   I suspose it was a monumental lock up because they didnt even bother to add a scrolling banner to the back up broadcast. 

TVNZ dont have a back up news location, they got rid of staff and tech from all their other newsrooms around the country....  

Someone needs to ask why that was allowed...they are the state broadcaster. 

If it was a system reboot I would have thought that was pretty quick. At least it was still able to broadcast something. 

Brings back memories of the kiwi wrapped in cables if something was wrong lol

Mspec:

 

If it was a system reboot I would have thought that was pretty quick. At least it was still able to broadcast something. 

 

Brings back memories of the kiwi wrapped in cables if something was wrong lol

 

The Kiwi would have been far more fun than blanching veges...

Last time i also checked TVNZ had a better uptime than some telcos i know

By the time a "backup studio" would have been put in motion, the issue would have been resolved. It takes quite a bit to prepare the bulletin, it's not just knocked-together in half an hour.

Goosey:

 

 

 

TVNZ dont have a back up news location, they got rid of staff and tech from all their other newsrooms around the country....  

 

Someone needs to ask why that was allowed...they are the state broadcaster. 

 

 

 

TVNZ have a spare studio that can be used for news in Wellington and Christchurch, they need about 30 minutes to make it go live, ( find presenters, apply makeup etc. )

yitz: I noticed the presenters were "zoomed in" and missing their augmented reality studio set features with no fancy intro 30 seconds ahead (that's usually pre-recorded right?? or does the presenter have to rush back to their seat lol)

Got that right I would say their uptime would be 99.99% that is a pretty amazing feat.

Just a pity they couldnt have put a text message on screen telling folk what was happening...I thought my TV had gone wonky when I landed on one...

quickymart:

 

By the time a "backup studio" would have been put in motion, the issue would have been resolved. It takes quite a bit to prepare the bulletin, it's not just knocked-together in half an hour.

 

But all they seem to do is read the website news in a dramatic voice over the top of some pretty generic looking footage from what I have seen?

How often dos this happen? Weekly or fortnightly?

1983 was the last time.