TVNZ 1

At 7:30pm on 1 June 1960, New Zealand's first television channel, AKTV2, started broadcasting in Auckland from the NZBC building at 74 Shortland Street, previously used to broadcast public radio station 1YA and now home to The University of Auckland's Gus Fisher Gallery. Owned and operated by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (NZBS, which became the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in 1962), it initially broadcast for two hours a day, two days a week. Christchurch's CHTV3 followed in June 1961, Wellington's WNTV1 a month later, and Dunedin's DNTV2 on 31 July 1962.[2] The numbers referred to the VHF Band I channel allocation that the main transmission (i.e. not repeaters) was broadcast on.

Television licences were introduced in August 1960, initially costing NZ£4 (equal to NZ$171 in December 2013).[3][4] Television advertisements began in April 1961 and were initially allowed only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.[2]

Relay stations gradually expanded the four channels into regional New Zealand. AKTV2 was extended to Waikato and Tauranga in 1963 and to Whangarei in 1966. WNTV1 was extended to Manawatu and Wairarapa in 1963, to the Hawke's Bay in 1964, and to Taranaki in 1966. DNTV2 was extended to South Otago and Southland in 1964, while CHTV3 was extended to South Canterbury in 1965. New and more powerful transmitters were establihed in 1965 to improve coverage of three channels: AKTV2 at Waiararua, WNTV1 at Mount Kaukau, and CHTV3 at Sugarloaf. DNTV2 continue to broadcast from Highcliff until 1970, when it moved to Mount Cargill.[5] By 1965, 300,000 television licences had been issued, and television was broadcasting seven nights a week.[2]

Initially, the four television facilities were unlinked, and programming had to be shipped between stations. The sinking of TEV Wahine in Wellington Harbour on 10 April 1968 highlighted the lack of a video link. Footage shot in Wellington could not be broadcast in other centres around the country in real-time, and the extra-tropical cyclone which contributed to the disaster grounded air traffic, preventing the film being flown to other centres.

By the time of the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, the two islands were each network-capable via microwave link, but the link over Cook Strait had not been completed, and there was no link between New Zealand and the outside world. Footage of the moon landing was recorded on video tape at the Australian Broadcasting Commission's ABN-2 in Sydney, then rushed by an RNZAF English Electric Canberra to Wellington and WNTV1.[6] To forward this to the South Island, the NZBC positioned one of its first outside broadcasting vans to beam the footage to a receiving dish across Cook Strait, from which it was forwarded through the recently commissioned South Island network. The link was completed later that year, the first NZBC Network News transmitted on 3 November, read by newsreader Dougal Stevenson.[2]

With the establishment of the Warkworth satellite station in 1971, New Zealand could finally communicate with the rest of the world. The first live broadcast received by satellite was the 1971 Melbourne Cup on 2 November.[7]

For the first 13 years, NZBC TV broadcast solely in black and white. Colour television, using the Phase alternating line (PAL) system, was introduced on 31 October 1973,[7] in preparation for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, held in Christchurch the following February. Due to the lack of colour facilities, only four of the ten sports (swimming, diving, athletics and boxing) could be broadcast in colour.[8]

The Avalon Television Centre, home to TV One from 1975. Operations gradually moved to Auckland during the 1980s.

On 1 April 1975, the NZBC was split into 3 separate state owned corporations: Television One, Television Two and Radio New Zealand.

The existing NZBC television service became TV One, and was based in Avalon Television Centre in Lower Hutt which opened that day. TV One used the WNTV1 and DNTV2 studios and the existing channel frequencies, while AKTV2's Shortland Street studios and CHTV3 studios and new channel frequencies were used for the new TV2, which commenced later that year.

Logo used from 1 July 2013 until 30 September 2016.

In 1980 the two television channels merged to form Television New Zealand, with the purpose of finally providing a dividend to the Government. The merger was promised to provide 'complementary programming' for both channels.

Regional news programming was reintroduced in 1980 screening at 7.30pm for half an hour. The regional programmes broadcast from the four main TVNZ studios in Auckland (Top Half), Wellington (Today Tonight), Christchurch (The Mainland Touch) and Dunedin (7.30 South).

In 1982, the regional programmes were incorporated into the network news bulletin with 7.30 South rebranded as The South Tonight. Each region would break out from the network news for a 20-minute regional programme before returning to the network news for the weather. In 1989 the regional programmes were transferred to TV2 in the new timeslot of 5.45pm, and Top Half and Today Tonight were axed later that year. In 1990 The Mainland Touch and The South Tonight were transferred back to TV One and screened immediately after the Māori news programme Te Karere (live at 5.20pm in the North Island, delayed at 5.35pm in the South Island) and before the network news. Both programmes were axed altogether at the end of 1990.

In August 2008, TV One, along with TV2, moved to 720p high-definition for the start of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Both channels were originally only available in high-definition on the Freeview HD platform, before commencing high-definition broadcasts on the Sky platform on 1 June 2009 now moved to 1080i in August 2010.

In October 2016, the channel was renamed TVNZ 1.