Tv tag

Freeview will be getting three new channels over the next month:

• TVNZ 6, TVNZ’s new general programming channel, starts on 30th September. It will feature three sections; Kidzone with childrens programming, Family with general family entertainment, and Showcase with dramas and comedy. It will be channel 6.
• [ Oooh, so Wikipedia isn’t right 100% of the time – VIBE is Sky only ]
• Triangle Stratos is Triangle TV’s regional TV spreading across the nation and starts on 3rd October. It will specialise in international programmes mainly and will feature show from DW-TV, Voice of America and Al Jazeera English. Channel 21.

TV One and 2 will be going widescreen on September 22nd too.

Notice the two channel gap between Triangle and VIBE? Future homes of Parliament TV and Alt TV?

Send an e-mail to facelift@gibson.co.nz to join the weekly e-mail list where you can watch the latest sketches before they’re even on air!

Facelift, Mondays 10pm on TV One

TVNZ, TV3, Maori TV and Sky News have all agreed to go against parts of the new rules that were voted on in parliament which essentially banned use of images and videos of MPs for satirical use.

They accept that they will be held in contempt of parliament if they do, but they all agree that the new rules are undemocratic.

“This is not an issue of MPs versus the television media; it’s about New Zealanders being denied a particular viewpoint on New Zealand politics,” [TVNZ Head of News and Current Affairs, Anthony] Flannery says.

All these MPs seem to forget that anyone can see them anyway if they go to the debating chamber. I was thinking maybe someone should set up an open blog for anyone to post up what they saw of MPs that day. No images, of course, but at least people would still know if David Benson-Pope was sleeping on the job again!

At long last, C4 is to start running 24 hours a day on Freeview and Sky Digital from 7th July. About time.

And at the end of July, TV One and TV2 will be going widescreen.

Time to use that student loan to buy an HDTV I think

TVNZ has announced that it will be going into the online era from March next year with TVNZ ondemand. You’ll be able to watch new, old and catch up programmes that are shown or yet to be shown on TV, with many being free (such as news or archived shows) or $2 to $4 (like Shortland Street).

TVNZ has lead the way in New Zealand by being the first to offer streaming news reports. This year it has stepped up by offering ASB Business and Fair Go as podcasts, it also last week offered the first episode of Karaoke High from TVNZ.co.nz for free since last Monday, but it was shown on TV2 tonight. Also, other shows like Eating Media Lunch have been available.

From the sounds of it, you will be able to download the episodes or watch them streaming. They hope to have most of their popular shows available online, such as Shortland Street and Eating Media Lunch. Unfortunately, it sounds like you pay to watch it an unlimited amount of times from seven days of purchasing the license. If you want to watch it again after that, you’ll have to pay again. That is the only black mark I can think of with this (that and the fact that it only works with Windows at the moment).

A quick clip shown at the end of the press event touted the content being accessible from laptops, iPods, Xbox 360’s, PSP’s and cellphones. The video can be watched from the linked article, going into the first video clip into about 17 minutes, or watch the snippets from the One News clip.

It is about time we had this, however it isn’t like we are the last off the mark on this one.

Our TV2 reception is bad where we live, so I wait until Monday to get my Eating Media Lunch fix online.

Well, it seems NZ Idol has finally had the last nail in the coffin banged into it, as several prominent New Zealand artists, including Boh Runga, Neil Finn and Dave Dobbyn, refused to be on the show.

Boh had apparently said that she’d rather “lick the inside of a toilet bowl than appear on Idol.”

Ouch.

The judges of the show, Frankie Stevens, Ian Stables and Megan Alatini then went and insulted them all. From Stables,

The attitude of these guys is that to go on something mainstream might seem a little uncool, because they are not being seen in the right place at the right time, and they are trying very hard to be overly intelligent and articulate and savvy, when really they’re just boring idiots

So, after insulting the people who you wanted on the show, what do you do next?

You place an open invitation!

Memo to Dave Dobbyn, The Feelers, Shihad, Evermore and Boh Runga: “You are cordially invited to appear on NZ Idol, where we will pay tribute to your vast musical talent. Please RSVP to Frankie Stevens, Iain Stables and Megan Alatini.”

Ha! I’m sure all of these artists are now seething.
(Tip: Russell Brown)