Three (TV channel)


Three is a New Zealand nationwide television channel. Launched on 26 November 1989 as TV3, it was New Zealand's first privately owned television channel. The channel currently broadcasts nationally in digital free-to-air form via the state-owned Kordia on terrestrial and satellite. It previously broadcast nationally on analogue television until that was switched off on 1 December 2013.
Three is a general entertainment channel formerly owned by Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand, with a news element under the banner of ThreeNews. Three carries a significant amount of local content, most of which airs at prime-time. The channel has been owned by Sky Network Television from 1 August 2025.

History

Establishment

Applications to apply for warrants to operate New Zealand's third national television network opened in early 1985 and closed on 29 March 1985. There were four regional channel warrants: Region 1 serving Auckland and Northland; Region 2 serving Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay; Region 3 serving Wellington, Manawatu and Taranaki; and Region 4 serving the South Island. Applicants for the warrants included Aotearoa Broadcasting System, Civic Enterprises, Energy Source Television Network, Impact Television, On-Shore Services, Southern Cross Television, Tele-Vid Three group and United Telecast Corporation. Hearings began in August 1985.
The Broadcasting Tribunal announced in August 1987 that the Tele-Vid Three group had been awarded all four warrants. The four channels would be based in Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch, with a jointly owned national news and current affairs service and a national advertising service. TV3 was proposed to launch in early 1989, with broadcasts initially covering 80% of the population.
There were numerous delays to the launch date of TV3. Litigation surrounded the granting of the warrant, as did the share market crash in October 1987, which wiped out a large proportion of the capital that TV3 required to establish the channel. These problems resulted in the ambitious regional plans being rationalised before being shelved completely. The network was to be based in Auckland with limited studios and news and sales teams in the other main centres. TV3 expected to take 30% of the television advertising revenue, rising to 36% by 1994.
TV3 began broadcasting on Sunday 26 November 1989 at 8:00 pm with Governor-General Paul Reeves officially launching the station. This was followed by a two-hour special previewing the network's programmes, featuring comedians David McPhail and Jon Gadsby playing cameramen. TV3's initial slogan proclaimed 'Come Home to the Feeling'; a derivative of the 'Come Home to the Best, Only on NBC' slogan used by NBC in the United States of America at the same time. At launch, TV3 could be received by an estimated 55 percent of the population, in Auckland, Waikato, Western Bay of Plenty, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Regular broadcasts began the following day, Monday 27 November 1989, at 7:00 am. The first day's programme schedule was as follows:
  • 7:00am − The Early Bird Show, with news and weather at 7:00am, 7:30am, 8:00am, 8:30am and 9:00am with Joanna Paul.
  • 9:00am − Dinosaucers
  • 9:30am − Welcome Back, Kotter
  • 10:00am − Chico and the Man
  • 10:30am − Check It Out!
  • 11:00am − 9 to 5
  • 11:30am − Holiday World
  • 12:00pm − Film: Rio Grande
  • 2:00pm − Fame, Fortune and Romance
  • 2:30pm − Bring 'em Back Alive
  • 3:30pm − The Mickey Mouse Club
  • 4:00pm − The Real Ghostbusters
  • 4:30pm − Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • 5:00pm − Get Smart
  • 5:30pm − Perfect Match
  • 6:00pm − 3 National News with Philip Sherry, Greg Clark and Belinda Todd
  • 6:30pm − A Current Affair with Genevieve Westcott
  • 7:00pm − The Golden Girls
  • 7:30pm − Laughinz with Jay Laga'aia, Rawiri Paratene, Rima Te Wiata, Brenda Kendall, Mark Hadlow and Alison Wall.
  • 8:30pm − The Shiralee
  • 10:30pm − Bee Gees: Live in Australia
  • 1:00am − Closedown
One of the financial supporters of TV3 in its early life was America's NBC, taking 14.9% of TV3's shares and had the biggest and effectively controlling interest. Existing laws forbade foreign ownership beyond the 15% level, what TV3 considers as "the main block to sell" itself. NBC sold the stake when TV3 was into receivership in May 1990; by this time the share was at 16.4%.
Despite breaking TVNZ's monopoly, TV3 had found itself in an uphill struggle. Its current affairs programmes and TV sports programmes were axed due to disappointing ratings and poor advertising income. Its staff were also laid off. It also had to face competition with the then-new Sky Network Television. TV3 was ready for any ratings battle.

Westpac ownership

TV3 failed to gain ground against a recently revitalised TVNZ and was placed into receivership on 2 May 1990. TV3 continued to broadcast with the major creditor, Westpac, supporting the network by taking a large shareholding. TV3 was delisted from the New Zealand Stock Exchange in December 1990 because it could not afford to meet listing requirements. Its board of directors had lost their confidence when TV3 was into receivership.
As TV3 needed investment during a climate of economic recession, the government liberalised the rules on foreign ownership of television stations, allowing TV3 to search for an investor overseas. In December 1991, Canwest took a 20 percent shareholding in TV3 and secured a management agreement allowing it full control to operate the station. Canwest introduced tighter controls on budgets while targeting the lucrative 18- to 49-year-old audience. TV3's audience share and advertising revenue steadily increased, leading to significant profits. TV3 also steadily increased its coverage within New Zealand, adding dozens of transmitters and translators, often with the assistance of New Zealand On Air. By 1998 about 97 percent of the population could receive the channel.
On 2 October 1996, TV3 announced a reshuffling of its broadcast frequencies to enable it to launch a new network, to be called TV4 Network Limited, on the VHF band. TV4, which started on 29 June 1997, is a free-to-air network aimed at a younger audience than TV3. The launch was considered successful, with high brand recognition and ratings significantly higher than MTV, TV4's television rival. TV4's opening broadcast was the controversial Tyson–Holyfield boxing rematch.

Canwest ownership

In April 1997, Canwest purchased Westpac's 48 percent shareholding in TV3, taking Canwest's stake to 68 percent. In June Canwest picked up the More FM Radio network, followed in November with the purchase of the remaining 32 percent of TV3. In April 1998, Canwest announced that it had made Can$22 million in the six months to February 1998 in New Zealand, up a third on the same period the year before. TV4 contributed positively to the result, with some of the increase due to the inclusion of More FM, while TV3 was continuing to experience strong revenue growth.
On 15 March 1998, TV3 started airing the wildly successful British pre-school series Teletubbies. Bettina Hollings, general manager of TV4 and director of programming at both channels, owned a set of soft toys featuring the four main characters. She had been in its filming location in England in September 1997 and was responsible for bringing the series to New Zealand.
In September 1999, the Broadcasting Standards Authority upheld a complaint over TV3's 20/20 story "Sex, Lies and Videotape" in June 1998. The story received twelve complaints and was upheld on the grounds of privacy, viewpoints on controversial Issues, accuracy, fairness and responsible programming. The BSA ordered TV3 to pay $100,000 in costs, to broadcast statements on-air regarding the upheld complaint, and the channel was banned from showing advertising between 6:00pm and 8:30pm on 10 October 1999.
Canwest's investments in New Zealand had developed considerably in New Zealand over the period that it had interests in the country. TV4 continued to be a source of concern for the broadcaster, but the position of TV3 was strengthened by alliances with Sky Television for sport and a series of high-profile mistakes by TVNZ as it dealt with the dominance of Sky in pay television. The election of the Labour government in 1999 refocused TVNZ as a semi-non-commercial broadcaster, no longer ratings-driven and no longer attempting to dominate the free to air television market. As a commercial broadcaster, TV3 was in a position to take advantage of TVNZ's change of focus.
In October 2000, it used the TellyDOTS for a four-week period.
Bruce Dunlop & Associates Australia unveiled a brand refresh of TV3 on 20 April 2003. The new logo consisted of three squares, containing a fern on the left and middle squares and a 3 in the right square. Idents during this phase depicted scenes of people from New Zealand. The news operation also rebranded.
During 2004, the station was transferred into the ownership of Canwest MediaWorks as a way of listing 30 percent of the Canadian company's New Zealand assets on the New Zealand share market. TV3's parent company Television Works announced its annual revenue at $124 million in October 2004, which was $13 million up from the previous financial year.

MediaWorks ownership

In May 2007 it was announced that Ironbridge Capital, an Australian private equity firm, was paying $386 million or $2.43 a share for the 70 percent of CanWest MediaWorks owned by CanWest Global Communications. It was also offering the same price to minority shareholders under a full takeover bid.
On 1 April 2008, TV3 became the first New Zealand television network to introduce high-definition television, to coincide with the launch of Freeview HD and MySky HDi in New Zealand. The first programme to broadcast in true 1080i high definition was that night's screening of Boston Legal.
In October 2010, coinciding with the announcement of the launch of Four, TV3 announced that it would undergo a slight change to its target demographic, shifting from the 18-49 demographic to the 25-54 one. Key international TV series such as The Simpsons, America's Next Top Model and Top Chef would move to the new channel, as well as a reduction in the amount of crime dramas broadcast. Outrageous Fortune was replaced by a new title from South Pacific Pictures, The Almighty Johnsons, which was slated to be TV3's new flagship local drama series for 2011. New Zealand's Next Top Model would remain on the channel, as MediaWorks bosses believed that the local nature of the programme was "event television".
On 17 June 2013 the parent company of TV3 went into receivership, this being the second receivership for TV3. When TV3's parent company MediaWorks was purchased by Ironbridge Capital they took on $700 million of debt which could no longer be sustained. Following the receivership TV3 and the radio stations owned by MediaWorks remained on air and all staff have retained their jobs. Shares in the company were gradually and completely bought out by US hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management.
Since 3 July 2016, with the closure of sister channel Four, some of its programming, such as Sticky TV, moved over to TV3 in a new daytime lineup.
On 9 February 2017, TV3 underwent a major re-branding, changing its name to Three and adopting a new logo and on-air imaging. The new brand was promoted as being "vibrant, playful, and inspiring"; chief content officer Andrew Szusterman explained that TV3 as a brand had not evolved with its programming, and that "a channel this strong, with content this strong, should be bigger than the sum of its parts and it should represent the content itself whereas the pieces of content were living in isolation." The new imaging was widely criticised by viewers, particularly the unusual design and stylization of its new logo as "+HR=E".
A second sister channel, ThreeLife, was launched on 15 April 2018.
On 18 October 2019, MediaWorks announced Three was for sale.
On 25 March 2020, ThreeLife and ThreeLife + 1 went off air, and were replaced by the return of The Edge TV and new channel Breeze TV.