TV3 Begins - First Transmission

Television (Excerpts) – 1989

23 Aug 2018 - 06.08pm

Not everything went to plan during that first broadcast. I was in the driver's seat as it went to air, and had left a 10-minute hole for a fireworks display on the Waitemata harbour. The centrepiece was a giant 3 built from dozens of fireworks and mounted on a raft. I had several cameras near the waterfront waiting to record it as it blazed away in the night. Then the rain started... and never stopped. In the end the 3 was literally a fizzer. I had to close up the gap in the show and end it a few minutes early. Doh!

Patrick TePou

17 Aug 2018 - 08.51pm

TV3 - or Three as it's known today - was New Zealand's first private television network. The network finally went to air on the evening of 26 November 1989 at 8pm with a truly grand two hour preview of what to expect and what would screen on TV3 - involving programme previews, interviews with network stars, personality profiles and much more.

I was born on 31 October, about four weeks out from the launch of TV3.