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Television New Zealand is unveiling plans for its new Freeview channels - TVNZ 6 to start in September and TVNZ 7 in March next year - and it's promising there'll be more choice for viewers.
But while TVNZ creates more alternatives on one front, it's still suffering from people turning off their television sets altogether, and a slump in ratings for top shows on its big-earning channel, TV2.
The new channels have been given $76 million in taxpayer grants for five years on the condition they do not show advertising during that period.
So, at least TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 will not cannibalise the state broadcaster's ad revenue. But the more successful they are, the more they will take audience numbers away from existing channels. And these channels are already under pressure as people turn to other forms of entertainment.
TVNZ's general manager for digital services, Eric Kearley, said TVNZ 6 would start with children's programming in the morning, and continue with "safe family viewing" until 8.30pm. After that, more challenging fare on arts and drama would screen.
TVNZ 7 would be a broad-based factual channel including news, sports, documentaries and current affairs. It is understood to have 15-minute news bulletins running each hour on the hour, but Kearley said it would not be a rolling news channel like CNN.
TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 were named because of their position on the electronic programming guide from Freeview.
The new channels are expected to have a very small audience at launch date. But, if successful, they could muddy the already murky waters for free-to-air television, which is currently suffering a significant drop in PUTs - the number of People Using Television.
AGB Nielsen figures for the week to May 20 found that the number watching television was down by 10 per cent on the same period in 2006, based on an audience of people aged 20-54.
TV One - buoyed by the final stages of Dancing With The Stars - was down just 1 per cent, while TV3 was down 12 per cent due to small decreases across most programmes. TV2 was down by 27 per cent.
Key TV2 shows that sustained ad revenue while TV One's collapsed, weren't immune to the downward trend this year either.
Grey's Anatomy was down by 19 per cent and The Apprentice fell by 23 per cent.
Media buyer Total Media said that TV2 had "oodles of spare capacity and TV3 also had a lot of spots".
TVNZ director of programming Jane Wilson said that it had been difficult for TV2 to sustain the strong performance in 2006 while people were generally watching less television, and while TV One was recovering.
TV3's sure-fire successes, such as House and Prison Break, were also significantly down year on year, she said.
Wilson said PUT levels were difficult to predict, and TV2 would take the biggest hit in this area because it was the biggest network.
