New Zealand television channel
Television channel
Four
|
Country
| New Zealand
|
---|
Broadcast area
| national
metropolitan
|
---|
|
Picture format
| 16:9
(
576i
,
SDTV
)
|
---|
Timeshift
service
| - Four + 1 (2014 - 2016)
- (terrestrial only)
|
---|
|
Owner
| TVWorks (1997 Original)
MediaWorks New Zealand
(2011 relaunch)
|
---|
Sister channels
| |
---|
|
Launched
| Original
(as TV4)
29 June 1997
(
1997-06-29
)
Relaunch
(as FOUR)
6 February 2011
(
2011-02-06
)
|
---|
Closed
| Original
(as TV4)
3 October 2003
(
2003-10-03
)
Final
(as FOUR)
2 July 2016
(
2016-07-02
)
|
---|
Replaced by
|
- C4
(3 October 2003)
- Bravo
(2 July 2016)
|
---|
Former names
| TV4 (1997 - 2003)
|
---|
|
Website
| www
.four
.co
.nz
|
---|
|
|
|
DVB
64-QAM
on band IV
|
|
Four
(stylised as
FOUR
; formerly
TV4
) was the second New Zealand
television channel
owned and operated by
MediaWorks New Zealand
, broadcast via the state-owned
Kordia
transmission network. The channel launched on 29 June 1997 as TV4 and was replaced by
C4
on 3 October 2003. It was relaunched on 6 February 2011 as a separate channel from C4.
On 2 July 2016, Mediaworks closed Four and replaced it with
Bravo
as part of a deal with
NBC Universal
.
[1]
In general, the channel's target audience was 18- to 49-year-olds and could be broader in its appeal, with programming which attracted a wider, and more mature audience. During early mornings and late afternoons the channel screened a range of children's programming such as
Sesame Street
and in the evenings screened shows aimed at the mainstream audience. Overnight and late mornings ? early afternoons the channel screened
Infomercials
and Auto TV (Car Commercials). Four broadcast mostly American programming, with the exception of
Sticky TV
,
Four Live
, and
Smash
, which were in-house produced Auckland-hosted youth shows, and the
Pukana
youth show, which was produced from a Maori language government fund.
Pukana
also airs on one of the two government funded Maori language channels.
History
[
edit
]
The history of Four dates back to 1997 when TV3 decided to launch a second TV channel called TV4. TV4 was an entertainment network and screened a wide range of imported shows such as
South Park
,
Beverly Hills 90210
,
Beavis and Butthead
. After 2000, new programming was scarce, with the infiltration of 1980's and 1990's repeats. On October 3, 2003, TV4 was replaced by music channel
C4
.
On 6 February 2011, TV4 returned as Four. MediaWorks announced this in October 2010, and said the new network would focus on children's programming during the day and a range of shows aimed at the 18-to-49-year-old audience in the evening. The first programme to air on Four was
The Simpsons
episode "
Elementary School Musical
" (not coincidentally featuring New Zealand band
Flight of the Conchords
).
At the end of 2012, Four began screening some new episodes of shows within seven days of the show being broadcasting in the United States under the
Fast Four
brand. Examples of shows include
The Simpsons
,
Family Guy
,
Glee
and
How I Met Your Mother
. New Zealand TV networks typically start screening most US television series around five months after the original release, usually first screening in late January or February at the end of the New Zealand summer, catching up to the US at the end of the season as all 22 episodes are broadcast week-after-week, not spread out over nine months as in the US. The transition of shows like
Glee
from TV3 to Four also lost the NZ On Air funding that is given to TV3 to get
EIA-608
captions converted from source masters to the preferred Teletext format by TVNZ's Access Services. As New Zealand broadcasters are completely reliant on this process for program subtitling.
Closure
[
edit
]
The final ever show to air on FOUR was
The Biggest Loser
. At 10:50 pm on Saturday 2 July 2016, the channel closed with Feist singing "
1234
" (the same
Sesame Street
song that was used to relaunch the channel back in February 2011); the channel then faded to black.
Four Plus 1
[
edit
]
Four Plus 1
was a timeshift service that MediaWorks launched on 27 June 2014. It was a standard hour-delayed
timeshift channel
of the Four broadcast. Four Plus 1 was initially only available on digital terrestrial with satellite launched a week later on Sky's fifth digital transport.
[2]
It was replaced by
Bravo Plus 1
on 3 July 2016, when Bravo replaced Four.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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Pan-Asia
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East Asia
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South Asia
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Southeast Asia
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Australasia
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Online
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Defunct
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