TV3 Begins - First Transmission

Television (Excerpts) – 1989

TV3 celebrated its launch with a two-hour special featuring music, montages, and a Māori welcome. Aotearoa's first new television channel in more than two decades went to air on 26 November 1989, after years of meetings, hard graft and competing bidders. This clip of TV3's first ten minutes creates a party atmosphere of smiling happy faces. Dave Dobbyn and dancers get energetic in promotional song 'Get the Feeling', then Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves pulls the launch lever. Also featured are appearances by a wide array of Kiwis, from children to soldiers to Sam Hunt.

This is it. That first day on air is going to be a pretty emotional moment.
– TV3's Publicity and Promotions Manager Trevor Spitz, in the lead-up to TV3's launch, The Listener, 27 November 1989, page 3