The story
The early years
NHNZ was originally formed as the Natural History Unit of TVNZ. The unit was created in 1977, with the aim of telling stories of New Zealand native and endangered species.
The unit's first documentaries made were a series of six 15-minute programmes called Hidden Places which featured various New Zealand habitats, notably Ōkārito, White Island, Fiordland, Mackenzie Country and Sinclair Wetlands, near Dunedin.
The first programme that captured international attention was the story of Don Merton's rescue of the New Zealand black robin from the brink of extinction. Several programmes were made chronicling this success story – Seven Black Robins, The Robins Return and finally Chatham Island a Black Robin Story.
In 1997 the production house was sold, and became a subsidiary of Fox International Channels. In October 2012, former Fox executive David Haslingden acquired 100% of NHNZ.
Blue Ant Media acquisition
In May 2017, the Canadian media company Blue Ant Media acquired NZHNZ and its parent company, the RACAT Group.
In mid-July 2020, Blue Ant Media announced that it would be selling NHNZ's Melville Street building in order to avoid having capital tied up in real estate. However, the company would remain in the premises.
In January 2021, television producer Julie Christie purchased a majority stake in NHNZ and became chief executive officer. Blue Ant Media retained a significant minority interest in the company, which was rebranded NHNZ Worldwide.
From Wikipedia’s article on NHNZ, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4