Note: Much of the below draws comparisons to the Australian television marketplace, for the benefit of Trans-Tasman visitors to this site.

There are four main free to air channels:
TVOne and TV2
    State owned long term players in the market.

TV3
    Once owned by CanWest out of Canada, now owned by     MediaWorks NZ, an arm of HT Media Holdings (an international     media investment company with strong Australian connections).     Been in the market since 1990.

TV4
    Also owned by MediaWorks NZ, in the market since 1997

Performance Issues
As a point of reference, performance of TV1, TV2 and TV3 is substantially greater than the comparable metropolitan channels in Australia, primarily due to our geographical situation and channel coverage.
The three major free to air channels in NZ all achieve national coverage, (in excess of 95%). Therefore placing one spot on any of the channels gives the opportunity to be seen nationwide. This is not the case in Australia, where one needs to purchase the major metropolitan markets individually plus all the regional channels in order to achieve national coverage. This lack of fragmentation within New Zealand assists in keeping audience costs down.

Regional Options
TV1, TV3 and Prime TV channels can also be bought on a regional basis, breakout costs as a percentage of the national rate below:

See right hand side bar for channel coverage maps for above.

The Way Airtime is Bought
Television buying is done on an individual agency or media shop basis - unlike in Australia, where most of the buying is handled via a small number of large buying groups.
In Australia, these buying groups negotiate with the channels at the beginning of the year on a group spend basis. The discounts agreed on are then held for the year. This differs markedly from New Zealand, where individual negotiations are held year round between the channels and the agencies on a campaign by campaign basis. Although the channels do like to set up an annual agreement where feasible.

The discount/bonus levels achieved in New Zealand are well in excess of those achieved in Australia.
For example, we regularly achieve bonus levels in excess of 60% - levels unheard of across the Tasman.

Cost Differentials
As a result of the above main factors, the New Zealand cost to deliver an audience on television, whether measured by CPT or Cost per (000), is substantially less than in Australia.

As an example, taking the Sydney market as being a relevant comparison to all of NZ on a population basis, the net Sydney CPT's are usually about 10% greater than the NZ gross CPT's. When the vastly greater NZ discount levels are applied, the NZ net CPT's are substantially less - giving a much lower cost of audience delivery.

Outside of Sydney in the regional markets, a reverse economy of scale comes into play in these smaller markets. Consequently audience delivery costs in these regional markets can be even greater than in the large metro markets.

New Zealand television spot rates (for 30 seconds), range from
$200 to $19,000.
Below table shows the cost for varying commercial duration. This is TVNZ's, however most channels are similar.
Durations shorter than 15 seconds are also available (5, 7, 8, 10), however special conditions do apply to these. Best to check first!

Other Television
In addition to the main free to air channels, there are a number of specific regional channels plus a variety of pay channels available.

Regional TV has had more downs than ups in this country - many operators have tried to establish a strong regional presence, but most have fallen by the wayside. Only in Christchurch has a regional channel established a long term, viable and supported presence.

Pay TV in New Zealand is the domain of SKY TV. First founded in 1987 it now has close to 722,000 subscribers nationwide. Mainstream channels on SKY are Sports, Movies, News and Sky1 on the UHF frequency. In late 1998, a further service was launched utilising satellite delivery, which beams in further channels to subscribers - (Sport2, Rugby Channel, ESPN, CNN, CNBC Asia, Hallmark, TNT, Juice, Animal Planet, National Geographic, Discovery, Living Channel, Movie, Movies Great, Food TV, History, Vibe, Cartoon Network, E!, CI and UKTV).
More than 80% of subscribers to SKY are now on the digital delivery system.

Cable TV has only gained a foothold in the Wellington market, with Saturn now having a 20% in home penetration with its 25 available channels. Look for this to expand however in the near future.

Channel Share Summary
As a quick and dirty point of reference, indicative station shares are shown in the table below, monitored against an All People aged 5+ target.