How it started
Formation
TVNZ was created in February 1980, through the merger of Television One and South Pacific Television (which was renamed TV2). Until January 1989, it was paired with Radio New Zealand as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ).
The broadcaster was initially based in Television One's former headquarters at the Avalon television centre in Lower Hutt, with TV One broadcasting out of Avalon and TV2 broadcasting out of Auckland. However over the course of the 1980s, operations were gradually moved to Auckland. In 1989, TVNZ moved to a new television centre in central Auckland.
In preparation for the launch of TV3, TVNZ became a profit-oriented state-owned enterprise in 1988.
Broadcasting in New Zealand was deregulated in 1989. Private broadcasters were allowed to operate in competition to TVNZ, and Radio New Zealand was split off from TVNZ, becoming a separate company. The Broadcasting Act 1989 also established the organisation now called NZ on Air which funds public broadcasting and independent media production in New Zealand.
In 1990, TVNZ competed with TV3 with an advertising campaign backed by "expensive imported programmes" and local sports coverage.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hybrid Television Services, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2