Below is a listing of the top ten programmes on NZTV, recorded as of the 25th September 2011 via Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

The top programme being watched is still One news TV ONE, with a mixture of New Zealand drama and current affairs in the other top spots and RWC coverage making it into the top 10.

To watch some of these programmes please follow this link to the TVNZ website.

TVNZ launches U, a ground-breaking new channel which integrates online social networking with broadcast content for the first time on New Zealand screens. U is a commercial free-to-air digital channel which features a mix of real life and factual entertainment programming and is aimed at all Kiwis aged 15-24.

The channel kicks off with our first ever episode of U live – a live daily interactive entertainment music show hosted by Connor Nester, Rose Matafeo and Tim Lambourne. Packed with giveaways, guests and entertainment news, no two shows will be the same. U live airs every day between 4pm and 7pm.

TVNZ has worked closely with Facebook to create a truly interactive show. Fans of the U live Facebook app are able to comment on topics, post pictures, vote in polls and peek behinds the scenes of the show through a live stream “producer cam”. Comments will then be pulled into the broadcast and onto screen, giving viewers a chance to interact with the presenters and each other like never before.

TVNZ’s Head of Digital Media and Channels Eric Kearley says that TVNZ is delighted to bring New Zealand its first true “social television” experience through the Facebook integration.

“It’s the first true technology-driven integration of online social media with television in New Zealand.”

U tv, which starts tonight and airs every Sunday at 8.30pm, gives viewers another chance to interact with the broadcast. People can enter a competition to be the U programmer for a month via the channel’s website. The lucky winner will effectively “own” the slot, choosing what viewers watch and then, via a video link, present their choices to NZ.

The rest of the schedule is made up of a selection of shows new to New Zealand audiences that are sure to shock, inspire and entertain. Britain’s Missing Top Model explores the biggest taboo in modelling… the lack of disabled models. The Buried Life follows the real life adventure of four guys on an epic quest to prove that anyone can do anything and to challenge strangers with the ultimate question: “What do you want to do before you die?”. And G Girls follows the glitzy team behind Britain’s top glossy – Glamour magazine. This is the series that gives fashion fans the kind of inside access they can only dream of.

According to Kearley, U is an innovative step for broadcasting in New Zealand and fills a gap in the market.

“We had identified that there was an opportunity to extend the content available for young New Zealanders with new locally made and overseas programming. U will be the only fully localised youth channel in the market providing bespoke opportunities for New Zealand advertisers to speak to young Kiwis.”

U will be broadcast on Freeview/TiVo channel 6 and SKY/Telstra channel 016.

For more information about “u” Channel please follow this link to the TVNZ page or follow this link to their Face book page.

Audio Description – the visual equivalent of captioning for hearing impaired audiences – begins on March 1 with episodes of Coronation Street.

Audio description is an optional additional narrative, spoken by a neutral voice, which describes the on-screen action in between dialogue. It’s a service widely available in the UK and US.

It has been made technically possible in New Zealand by developments in TVNZ’s digital infrastructure, and financially possible with a pilot grant of $500,000 from New Zealand on Air.

At this stage the service is limited to Coronation Street, which was requested as the popular choice of the Association of Blind Citizens of New Zealand.

At the end of a year the success of the service will be evaluated and, depending on available funding, it is expected it will be rolled out to cover more programmes.

Audio Description will be provided on the Freeview digital platform.

TVNZ’s Head of Production Services and Technology, Helen Clifton, says the new service is the result of many years of discussion with the blind community.

“We’re very proud that the technical developments in our digital broadcasting infrastructure have at last put us in a position to help. We’ve been providing captioning for those with hearing impairments for a long time, and we can now make television an experience to be really enjoyed for those with visual difficulties.”

New Zealand’s multi award winning online drama and telefeature Reservoir Hill has won a coveted Qantas Film and Television Award for Best Children’s/Youth Programme.

The show’s creators, Wellington-based directors Thomas Robins and David Stubbs, are delighted with their latest award. “It is a great honour to be recognised amongst the best in New Zealand television and film – to win the award was the icing on the cake,” says Robins.

The revolutionary show, which allows viewers to interact with the main character and influence the storyline via SMS, is now one of the most highly awarded youth drama programmes in New Zealand history.

Since first airing in October 2009, Reservoir Hill has won a number of prestigious awards including New Zealand’s first International Emmy Award and a TUANZ Innovation Award.

“Reservoir Hill is a whole new dimension in storytelling. The programme pushes interactivity boundaries to new levels, and this season it’s a whole new audience experience, another world first,” he says.

The second season of Reservoir Hill is currently airing on the TVNZ Ondemand website. This year Robins and Stubbs are continuing to break new ground and have taken technology to another level. Viewers can not only communicate with the show’s central character, Beth Connolly, via SMS text message; they can now also explore and interact with Beth’s dreams on-line.

“We’ve created a website where viewers can use a computer mouse to uncover clues and unlock the secrets buried deep within Beth’s subconscious mind. It’s the 4th dimension!” says Stubbs.

David Stubbs and Thomas Robins of KHF Media in Wellington, were also nominated in the Qantas Best Director – Drama/Comedy Programme category.

The new interactive dream space is available at http://tvnz.co.nz/dreamspace

The show itself can be viewed at www.tvnz.co.nz/reservoirhill

Environmentally friendly suggestion for freeview?

Television viewers in all major New Zealand towns are set to benefit from the Government’s announcement today that digital switchover will take place in 2013.

That’s the message from Freeview, the free-to-air digital televison and radio broadcasting platform, which has welcomed the date set by Broadcasting Minister Dr. Jonathan Coleman and the Government’s intention to migrate all viewers from analogue to digital Television.

The extension of the Digital terrestrial network (DTT) , will increase Freeview|HD®, coverage from 75% of the population to about 87% meaning even more Kiwis will now be able to access the benefits of High Definition television for free.

“The launch of Freeview three years ago was the most significant broadcasting moment since the introduction of colour TV 30 years ago and since then we’ve grown swiftly, so much so that Freeview is now being enjoyed by viewers in more than a quarter of New Zealand homes (i.e. a total of 419,945 or 26.1 % of Kiwi households as at June 30th, 2010). Importantly, with Freeview and a one off purchase, all New Zealanders can continue to get great Televison for free ,” says Sam Irvine, General Manager, Freeview.

“Today’s announcement also means a further year of funding for Freeview, more efficient use of spectrum and the availability of new technologies, all of which will enable us to continue providing the Kiwi viewing public with a compelling free-to-air offer,” he adds.

For more information on Freeview please folow this link to their website: Freeview

Skype on the Panasonic Viera HD TV set

Panasonic New Zealand has announced availability of Skype on VIERA High Definition TV

For sometime Panasonic have been aiming to do a deal with Skype to include a built-in support for the internet service allowing users to makae a free voice or video call to another Skype user. They finally have completed the deal and now you can have acces to Skype on the latest Viera High Definition TV’s.

Viewers will be able to access the Skype service by pressing a button on their remote. And you can purchase a specioally engineered high definition (720p) video Sype Camera (sold seperately for $249) to place on the top of your TV Set. The cheapest model in Panasonic’s line-up to gain Skype support is a 32-inch LCD model that sells for $1399.

Reservoir Hill

Reservoir Hill was a national trail-blazer – an exclusively online drama where viewers could interact with the main character. Now, it’s also made history by earning New Zealand’s first International Digital Emmy Award.

The award winners were announced on April 12 at a ceremony in Cannes, hosted by actor Jason Priestley (Beverly Hills, 90210). The TVNZ Ondemand drama beat off competitors from Hong Kong, Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom in the Children and Young People category.

TVNZ’s Chief Executive Officer Rick Ellis is thrilled with the show’s international achievement.

“When we set about our five year strategy to inspire New Zealanders on every screen, our intention was to be the best pound-for-pound digital media company in Australasia. But we just beat the world!”

General Manager of Digital Media Tom Cotter is similarly delighted with Reservoir Hill’s prestigious award.

“The award proves TVNZ’s ability to innovate on a world stage. I couldn’t be happier for the team who worked on the project: the production company KHF Media, TVNZ’s Digital Media, and New Zealand On Air, all of whom are an exceptional and passionate bunch of people.”

The production masterminds behind the concept, David Stubbs and Thomas Robins, were at the ceremony in France to pick up the Emmy and were elated at the achievement.

“It feels amazing. We’re thrilled for the team here at KHF Media: the cast, crew and writing team who worked tirelessly on a project we were all proud of,” Stubbs says. “It’s also awesome for TVNZ and New Zealand On Air who backed the unusual and innovative project.”

Andrew Shaw, TVNZ’s General Manager of Commissioning, Production & Acquisition says the accolade “is proof once again of New Zealand’s top quality drama commissions.”

Reservoir Hill was consistently one of the most viewed shows on TVNZ Ondemand during its eight-week run, and will be given a special feature length screening on TV2 in the Sunday Midday Movie slot on 16 May.

The series follows 16-year-old Beth Connolly (played by Beth Chote) as she arrives in a mysterious new town where nothing is quite as it seems.

Comments on social networking site Bebo helped to drive the story forward, as well as viewers who sent text messages to Beth offering her advice after each episode. The messages were then reflected in the weekly drama, as well as in Beth’s video blogs.

International Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences president Bruce Paisner praised the innovative interactive element to Reservoir Hill.

“This year’s winners have masterfully demonstrated how to enhance the viewers’ multi-platform experience,” Paisner said.

Reservoir Hill will be screened as a feature-length event on TV2 on 16 May at 12.00pm, and is still available to view Ondemand at www.tvnz.co.nz/reservoirhill.

Initial estimates of 500 viewers, were exceeded after reports on Close-Up, TV One News and Sunrise drove 2500 people to their computers to watch the acclaimed feature. Local content delivery company, E-Cast ‘s Gresham Bradley said the result was “fantastic and an exciting preview of things to come”.

Unfortunately for producers, a miscommunication between the New Zealand distributor (Rialto) and the sub-distributor (Vendetta) resulted in the film being pulled from release the morning after the streaming.

Vendetta’s Jill McNab released a statement to all retailers intending to stock the film, “We were not made aware of the free streaming and understand fully the threat this poses to you, our customers. Therefore we have made the decision to cancel the release of the dvd as we do not think it is fair to supply you with a product which is legally available for free in the marketplace already. We will be cancelling all orders of this movie.”

Luckily many others in the industry saw the enormous value of the online promotion and the resultant media coverage. First up to the support the film were movie champions Video Ezy who boosted their initial order by 500%. Then other believers (JB Hifi, Warehouse and Fatso) joined suit, much to the relief of filmmakers and producers. Rialto’s Distribution Manager Karen Cartwright is shocked by the reversal of fortune, happily exclaiming “the stock intended to cope with demand has run out already!”

The film is finally being released to dvd today, Wednesday Feb 25th.

Exec Producer Ant Timpson is reflective after the roller-coaster week, “In the end, the film will be enjoying a much larger dvd release, which at the end of the day is all that counts. It should enjoy a long life as its topical subject matter makes it compelling viewing in these turbulent times. I completely understand Vendetta’s initial reaction and I hope they understand that all parties had the best of intentions with this successful experiment.”

A Song of Good is the story of 28-year-old Gary Cradle’s struggle for redemption after committing an horrific crime.

The film stars Gareth Reeves, Danielle Cormack, Ian Mune and Matthew Sunderland. The film was invited to Rotterdam Film Festival for its World Premiere and also won Best Film* at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards.

This online screening was made possible by the good folks at Headstrong, Robbers Dog, New Zealand Film Commission, Rialto Distribution, Cactus Lab, e-Cast and of course the film gurus at Flicks.co.nz

Alt TV is looking for someone who has the ability to speak clearly, articulately and confidently. You must be well presented, comfortable in your own skin and not be shy about having your breasts/chest broadcast on national television.

What you will get:

The successful candidate will be given a three month contract, their own show on Alt TV, a Brass Magazine covershoot, future endorsements with Marquis Condoms, a weekly supplementary wage, along with the obvious media attention that will come with the job.

They have chosen a presenter in former bikini streaker, part-time lap dancer and former stripper Lisa Lewis who’s 15 minutes of fame was as a bikini clad streaker during a televised rugby match between Ireland and the All Blacks in June 2006. And later she went on to auction the bikini she wore on popular auction website trademe.

In Alt TV’s own words:

We live in a world where broadcast news is fast becoming a sensationalized hash of human interest pap and titillation. Alt TV throws their hat into the ring of news coverage and takes the current trend to its logical conclusion, by providing bulletins from 10pm weekdays in unflinching fashion… and stripped bare.

Alt TV and Marquis Condoms have found a NZ anchor with no inhibitions on reporting the facts that matter, delivering hard hitting commentary and showing their ‘assets’ in front of a large news hungry audience. Although critics may crow that objectification will overshadow news content, Alt TV reassures viewers that integrity will not be sacrificed for flesh. From May 12th catch Marquis Condoms’ Naked News Flash from 10.00 pm, weeknights on Alt TV.

Alt TV is an independent TV station based in New Zealand. We broadcast on SKY 65 in New Zealand and online at alttv.co.nz

Flex is a software application taking all the cool things about flash and integrating them with everything the Digital Media students learn in the rest of the course, to create highly interactive online applications.

Adobe AIR (code-named Apollo), was launched last year and is an application that allows the creation of online applications that sit on the desktop and are not restricted to the browser. For businesses, AIR will enable them to engage customers through innovative branded desktop applications without having to change existing technology or processes.

Media Design School’s Senior Digital Media Tutor, Mason Herber has been trained to teach both software applications by Industry Professionals who see the need for new web designers to enter the industry with these capabilities.

Herber says, “Some are predicting that AIR is the future of the internet. And the demand in the industry for Flex developers is huge. Online flash video is becoming a growing area in new media and I think we will be pushing the envelope with what we are going to do with it.”

The high-end creative technologies school based in Auckland’s Queen Street provides immersion training in industry appropriate courses. The school will be forging new ground in Digital Media training in New Zealand, when the new modules are integrated into their July 2008 full-time class. The first AIR and Flex-savvy Graduates will be hitting the industry in May 2009.

Media Design School still has openings for the 30 June intake for Graphic Design and the 14 July intake for Digital Media. To find out more, visit www.mediadesign.school.nz,phone 09 303-0403, or come along to our Open Day on the 29th of May, Level 12, 242 Queen Street (above Farmers), Auckland.