Prime Television New Zealand is the sixth national free-to-air television station in New Zealand. It is owned by Prime Television in Australia. The station airs a mix of programming largely imported from Australia, the UK and the United States.

In July 1997, Prime Television Pty Ltd in Australia purchased 34 licenses from United Christian Broadcasting International for approximately AU$3.6 million. The licenses covered all major cities and towns, mainly on UHF, except for the Gisborne area, which is served via a VHF signal. On August 30 1998, Prime Television New Zealand began broadcasting at 6.30pm.

Prime's terrestrial signals cover 65% of the population. However, it has 100% national coverage via Sky Television's satelite service. It was the first FTA terrestrial station on this platform.

Originally the station broadcast classic British programming, documentaries, sports and dramas aimed at the 30 years and above age bracket. In Waikato and Christchurch, Prime produced a half-hour nightly news programme. Although these programmes rated well, they were unprofitable.

In February 2002, Prime Australia entered into an agreement with Australian media mogul Kerry Packer's PBL (parent of the Nine Network). Under this five year agreement, Nine agreed to provide the station with content it owned the rights to, expertise and an amount of cash. In return, Nine was given the right to acquire 50% of Prime NZ at the end of the contract. If Prime NZ continued to lose money, Nine could choose not to take this up.

After this deal, Prime took on a broader and more expensive programming mix and axed the local content to cut costs. This increased ratings and profits significantly. This new format was modeled closely on the Global Television Network in Canada, whose parent company happens to own TV3.

Almost immediately, some Australian programmes produced by Nine and shown on Prime NZ took on a slightly New Zealand flavour. For example, one New Zealander per week began to appear on the Australian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and weather details for New Zealand cities appeared on the Australian "Today" breakfast programme. Many Australian programmes were simply broadcast on Prime without any adaption for New Zealand audiences, however.

During 2003-04, the number of Australian programes broadcast decreased. These were largely replaced with more expensive (and higher rating) British and American programs, such as a Sunday evening British drama slot. In 2003, an overnight feed of US channel Fox News was added.

In addition, a nationwide NZ news programme produced in Sydney by Sky News Australia was added to the schedule in February 2004, (Sky News is controlled by the Nine Network). The Kiwification of Australian programs also increased with New Zealander Charlotte Dawson becoming a presenter on the Nine travel programme "Getaway".

On November 2, 2004, TVNZ presenter Paul Holmes announced that he was resigning from his programme on the state broadcaster and begining a new one on Prime in 2005. This new programme, simply called "Paul Holmes", began on February 7, 2005 with a programme featuring an interview with rugby player Jonah Lomu and televangelist Brian Tamaki. On this first show another piece showed Paul Holmes planting a pohutukawa tree on Auckland's One Tree Hill (this tree was subsequently removed by an unknown person). "Paul Holmes" is seen as a major sign of Prime's rise in status, from a small, second-tier network to a major player on the New Zealand scene, joining TVNZ and TV3 in this regard.

In late December, 2004, Prime announced it had acquired New Zealand broadcast rights for the new series of Doctor Who.

In 2005 Prime announced that it will broadcast a minimum of 5.5% of local programs, following reccomendations from NZ On Air .

External Links

• Prime Television New Zealand