NZ Television

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MikeB4

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#132261 15-Oct-2013 08:49

It is no secret that New Zealand television sucks. It has been ruined by poor management and lack of any real competition. Freeview started with such great promise and potential but has been systematically ruined by poor Network management, Government policy and
anti competitive activity that if it were occurring overseas would have seen anti-trust and similar prosecutions.

NZers have the option of pay TV that offers 95% repeats or TV+1 channels (repeats by another method) and a couple of average channels.

Now I know NZ is a limited market place and we do pay a cost because of that in the way of higher prices and crappier service but surely there is a way for it to be better.

Should TVNZ revert to commercial free with a licence fee?
Should TVNZ be sold to private enterprise to get the Beehive nutters out of it ?
Do we need a third player, a 2 Degrees for TV so to speak ?

Oh and another thing, for the love Jiminy Cricket can we just get rid of all the reality TV and rubbish talent shows and Shortland Street.

What do the bright folks of GZ think should happen with TV services in NZ?

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#915215 15-Oct-2013 08:59

1 = no
2 = Yes.
3 = yes but not a telco

I agree with your sentiments above but one of the problems here is that we have the most unregulated broadcast industry in the world when compared to the telco industry..

Regards,

Old3eyes

Klipspringer

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#915221 15-Oct-2013 09:08

Personally I don't think that freeview is that bad.

There are quiet a few shows at the moment which we are watching. (But we have Netflix and Hulu as well)

We don't like any of the "propaganda" type news programs (Campbell live, 60minutes etc). We even skip the main news these days.
The only news we watch now and again is the weather.

Adverts seemed to have increased. we were watching the walking dead last night and I cant believe the amount of ads. The recording was nearly 2hours in length (with ads). Thank goodness for Tivo.
And whats with all the scaremongering adds. Slow motion car smashes, house fires etc ... People are not interested in this stuff on prime time TV. Or is that just me?

I would not mind seeing a pay per view sports type channel. Something where I can just pay to watch a single rugby or cricket game.

Other than that. Can't really complain too much.

wasabi2k

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#915226 15-Oct-2013 09:16

Your solution to poor choice and too many ads is to privatize - resulting in a greater focus on profit and return to shareholders.

Interesting logic.

I watch almost no TV now - all news I get online, Movies I download or watch on Netflix. TV shows are the same.

Teenager doesn't watch TV - youtube for almost everything.

Sport is about the only thing we watch on SKY and maybe some CI shows (which are probably on Netflix too).

However I understand this is NOT typical - the majority out there watch a lot more TV. Lots of people LOVE shortland street.

For me the biggest issue is the lack of choice of delivery - which I suspect comes down to SKY owning right to damn near anything. Beyond that I think we are in a chicken and egg situation - there isn't in my opinion the market to offer a streaming service like Netflix that would cover the costs of licensing and providing it. We are stuck waiting for an existing player to negotiate rights for NZ which given our small size and limited potential markets makes no sense.

Until then unblock-us and VPN providers will continue to have a good market.

Hell I've even considered selling a packaged roku with vpn router for plug and play netflix - if I didn't have to support the bloody thing after selling it.

Unfortunately TV needs to be simple and it needs to work - ALWAYS for the majority of people. The complexity of another box and using the internet kills it.

Cloudy

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#915235 15-Oct-2013 09:36

I have no problem with tv here in NZ. There are lots of shows on that we watch each week and when a series is finished is usually replaced with something else worth watching. We don't have sky or use any pay per veiw options so its just freeview. We also don't watch shows online before they air so the tv being broadcast is pretty good I think- The Walking Dead, Grimm, Supernatural, A whole host of cop shows,Choice with its doco's, all good as far as We are concerned

Inphinity

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#915237 15-Oct-2013 09:37

I'm not actually sure I see the issue with NZ TV as such. It's not feasible to have enough channels to have content to interest everyone on at any given time, especially with such a small population. Unfortunately, most people who watch TV, seem to enjoy watching reality rubbish, so that's whats shown a lot. That said, were getting more and more of the 'major' shows on within a few days of the US now, although just as many are still months behind.

I see an issue with lack of proper streaming services, though. Introduce some proper streaming services (proper in terms of price and content variety), and the game changes dramatically.

MikeB4

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#915242 15-Oct-2013 09:38

I don't necessarily agree with the privatisation of TVNZ I put it there as an option.

But the political destruction of public TV in NZ can be best summed up by the TVNZ 7 debacle. The Beehive, irrespective of who is in there cannot run public TV successfully. Maybe selling TVNZ to a third party, NOT Sky is a good thing.

trig42

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#915243 15-Oct-2013 09:40

I don't have a problem with FTA TV in NZ. Everytime I am in Australia, I look forward to coming home to NZ TV.
Sure , there's a few ads, but that's how they pay for it.

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mthredgo

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#915248 15-Oct-2013 09:49

NZ TV is bad. Sky is half as many channels as Australia's offering. TV1,2,3,FOUR,Prime etc do nothing for me. TV7 was ok, but the Nationals cut it :-(. Australia has ABC1+2+3+News 24, SBS1+2. What we need is a public TV channel. I say privatise TVNZ as it is just a commercial organisation these days. ANd fund a brand new public TV organisation (or hook it up with Radio NZ) and have a proper public broadcaster like proper grown up countries.

MikeB4

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#915251 15-Oct-2013 09:57

TV1 ….OK
TV2…..OK but too many repeats, reality TV and Shortland street
TV3….. hardly watch it
TV1 +1 waste of bandwidth
TV2 +1 waste of bandwidth
TV3 +1 waste of bandwidth
C4 can't comment don't watch it
Prime … OK
Trackside… OK if that is what you are into
Choice… OK
Sommet…; OK ( get rid of your current logo)
The Shopping Channel …. complete waste of space
TVSN….. complete waste of space Parliament….. OK
Cue… don't see it here
Te Reo… don't have Sat
Maori Television….OK
Shine TV… never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested
Firstlight ….never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested
CTV8… never watched it a

whole bunch of regional stations, occasionally viewed when travelling Wellington does not have one. So much more could be done with the plus one space holders, they are just a terrible waste of spectrum just to stop competition picking them up.The same goes with the silly shopping channels.

Cloudy

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#915275 15-Oct-2013 10:42

KiwiNZ: TV1 ….OK
TV2…..OK but too many repeats, reality TV and Shortland street
TV3….. hardly watch it
TV1 +1 waste of bandwidth
TV2 +1 waste of bandwidth
TV3 +1 waste of bandwidth
C4 can't comment don't watch it
Prime … OK
Trackside… OK if that is what you are into
Choice… OK
Sommet…; OK ( get rid of your current logo)
The Shopping Channel …. complete waste of space
TVSN….. complete waste of space Parliament….. OK
Cue… don't see it here
Te Reo… don't have Sat
Maori Television….OK
Shine TV… never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested
Firstlight ….never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested
CTV8… never watched it a

whole bunch of regional stations, occasionally viewed when travelling Wellington does not have one. So much more could be done with the plus one space holders, they are just a terrible waste of spectrum just to stop competition picking them up.The same goes with the silly shopping channels.

Have to disagree about the +1 channels, I think they are great. Often watch the news at 7 after Tea. I know could record it but don't need to and on the subject of recording the, the +1 channels give another chance at getting a show if you have a clash elsewhere with schedule's

alasta

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#915284 15-Oct-2013 10:55

The one programme that I watch and find to be of very high quality is The Nation. This is a show that is publically funded, and it is very apparent that its intellectual merit is not dragged down by the duty to deliver an audience to advertisers.

I haven't watched anything on state television for over ten years because, to put it bluntly, it's just crap. Admittedly the quality would improve somewhat if TVNZ were converted to public service broadcasting but TVNZ has enough organisational dysfunction that it will never deliver content to match a show like The Nation.

I'm mainly interested in news and current affairs, but as far as entertainment goes there is the occassional gem on Prime such as The Jury, Prisoners' Wives, Downton Abbey, etc.

letmekiwi

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#915291 15-Oct-2013 11:07

Uncapped internet on fiber is getting close. Soon TV will die, just like Teletext, as all people able to use a computer will watch Internet TV.

reven

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#915298 15-Oct-2013 11:32

agree the +1 are a waste of time. It would be better if they made a ondemand channel app similar to what quickflix is doing. so instead of just 1 hour delay repeat, that channel lets you stream any on demand show from the network (obviously there would have to be a tvnz and a tv3 one, in a ideal world it would be a single channel).

that would require bandwidth + internet to do the streaming, but wont require a smart tv or STB to run it just a fairly modern TV with a internet connection.

i dont see traditional TV channels dying any time soon, too many people just want to turn on tv and watch whatever is on. having to choose from a huge selection can be a PITA at times and you can miss things.

Klipspringer

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#915301 15-Oct-2013 11:34

Cloudy:
I know could record it but don't need to and on the subject of recording the, the +1 channels give another chance at getting a show if you have a clash elsewhere with schedule's

Except that they are not in HD and not worth watching

MikeB4

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#915302 15-Oct-2013 11:36

Cloudy:
KiwiNZ: TV1 ….OK
TV2…..OK but too many repeats, reality TV and Shortland street
TV3….. hardly watch it
TV1 +1 waste of bandwidth
TV2 +1 waste of bandwidth
TV3 +1 waste of bandwidth
C4 can't comment don't watch it
Prime … OK
Trackside… OK if that is what you are into
Choice… OK
Sommet…; OK ( get rid of your current logo)
The Shopping Channel …. complete waste of space
TVSN….. complete waste of space Parliament….. OK
Cue… don't see it here
Te Reo… don't have Sat
Maori Television….OK
Shine TV… never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested
Firstlight ….never watched it, but I am sure it serves those who are interested
CTV8… never watched it a

whole bunch of regional stations, occasionally viewed when travelling Wellington does not have one. So much more could be done with the plus one space holders, they are just a terrible waste of spectrum just to stop competition picking them up.The same goes with the silly shopping channels.

Have to disagree about the +1 channels, I think they are great. Often watch the news at 7 after Tea. I know could record it but don't need to and on the subject of recording the, the +1 channels give another chance at getting a show if you have a clash elsewhere with schedule's

I would rather see the Plus 1 used for new channels and folks make use of time shifting to watch items that clash of similar. Right now they are a method used to hold onto spectrum space and block others from entering.

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