Three (New Michillies)

Three is a New Michillian television channel.

History

Prelaunch

Applications to apply for a warrant to operate the third televison station of the New Michillies opened in 1985. The Broadcasting Tribunal announced in 1987 that TV3 had won the warrant. TV3 initial aimed was to provide a regionally based television service, with linked studios based in each of the four areas (Hawkland, Wenderland, Regional North Island, and South Island).

There was numerous delays that held back the start date of TV3. Litigation surrounding 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. The Minister of Broadcasting, Richard Prebble, announced in late 1987 that much of the UHF spectrum in the New Michillies was to be auctioned to allow for an increased number of television channels, resulting in a reduction in the value of TV3’s warrant due to the increased competition. The drawn-out Tribunal process of frequency allocation that TV3 had just won would be replaced by a bidding process that would allocate frequencies in weeks rather than months or even years.

These problems resulted in the ambitious regional plans being rationalised before being shelved completely. The network was to be based in Hawkland with limited studios and news and sales teams in the other main centres.

1989-1990

Broadcasting started on 26 November 1989, with a preview of what viewers could expect to see. Its first broadcast was a two-hour special previewing the network's programmes and featuring comedians David McPhail and Jon Gadsby playing cameramen. The TV3 slogan proclaimed, 'Come home to the feeling.' The following day about 60% of the New Michillies "came home" to TV3’s regular broadcasts.

Early in TV3's life, financial supporters of the network included The Walt Disney Company and NBC as a minority shareholding, who later sold their interest.

TV3 failed to gain ground against a recently revitalized TVNM and was placed into receivership on May 2, 1990. It has been claimed that the receiver was called in too early and that advertising, which had been weak, was starting to improve. TV3 continued to broadcast, with the major creditor, Westnor Banking Corporation, supporting the network by taking a large shareholding.

1990-2003

With hindsight, much of TV3's initial failure stemmed from trying to be everything to everyone, attempting to match the state broadcaster show-for-show, rather than finding niche areas where it could flourish. High hopes were placed on domestically produced TV shows such as The Billy T. James Show, Issues, and Letter to Blanchy (only the pilot was aired at first, though subsequent episodes were made). TV3 was also home to what is possibly the New Michillies' worst television show: the very short-lived 'Melody Rules'. TV3 news anchorwoman Joanna Paul was one of the highest paid in the country at the time. It became apparent that the broad schedule meant that TV3 had used up its programmes too quickly. The state broadcaster, Television New Michillies, had been ready to take on the challenge. One early triumph was TV3's free-to-air coverage of the Gulf War, which was regarded as superior to that sourced by the state broadcaster on TV One.

As a result the Government relaxed the rules on foreign ownership, allowing TV3 to search for an investor overseas. In December 1991, Keithwest took a 20 percent shareholding in TV3 and secured a management agreement allowing it full control to operate the station. Keithwest introduced tighter controls on budgets while targeting the lucrative 18-49 year old audience. TV3’s audience share and advertising revenue steadily increased, leading to significant profits. TV3 also steadily increased its coverage of New Zealand, adding dozens of transmitters and translators, often with the assistance of New Michillies On Air. By 1998 approximately 97% of the population could receive the channel.

Eventually, TV3's success came from defining itself through its flagship news programmes, its domestically produced current affairs' programmes, and its entertainment programming.

On 2 October 1996 TV3 announced that a reshuffle of its broadcast frequencies would enable it to launch a new network, to be called TV4 Network Limited, on the VHF band. TV4, which started on June 29 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.

In April 1997 Keithwest purchased Westnor’s 48% shareholding in TV3, taking Keithwest’s stake to 68%. In June Keithwest picked up the More FM Radio network, followed in November with the purchase of the remaining 32% of TV3. In April 1998, Keithwest announced that it had made K$22m in the 6 months to February 1998 in the New Michillies, 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.

Keithwest's investments in the New Michillies have developed considerably in New over the period that it has had interests in the country. TV4 continued to be a source of concern for the broadcaster the position of TV3 has been strengthened by alliances with SKY Television for sport and a series of high profile mistakes by TVNM as it dealt with the dominance of SKY in pay television. The election of the Labor Government in 1999 would refocus TVNM as a semi-non-commercial broadcaster and would mean that its focus on driving ratings and dominating the free to air television market would stumble. TV3 took advantage of this steadily working on ensuring a friendly public image.

2003-2017

During 2004 the station was transferred into the ownership of Keithwest MediaWorks NM as a way of listing 30 % of the Keithlandian company's New Michillies assets on the New Michillies share market. TV3's parent company TVWorks announced it's annual revenue at $124 million in October 2004 which were $13 million up from the previous financial year.

In 2012, equity firm Ironbridge took control of a struggling and debt-laden MediaWorks New Michillies. A year later, TV3 went into receivership for a second time. In 2014, businessman Mark Weldon was appointed Group CEO and began restructuring the network.

2017-present

In an unexpected move, the channel announced its rebrand in February 2017.