Channel U, which debuted on March 13, is a new youth channel aimed at the 15 to 24-year-old market, a segment of the population that has until now been largely ignored by marketers, who prefer to target, what is perceived as the far more lucrative, 25 to 55-year-old market. The channel, which replaces the now-defunct TVNZ 6 on the digital Freeview platform, will play content directly driven by the tastes of its viewers, through interaction with its core audience on social media network Facebook. The state broadcaster makes no secret that it is chasing the advertising dollar, and has no intent for U to educate its audience. It will, in fact, pander to the tastes of the young. To that end, the channel has been put in the hands of power couple Eric Kearley and Juliet Jensen. Kearley spent 10 years with MTV Networks, and is Head of Digital Channels and Digital Media on U, while Jensen, who helped launch TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7, is GM of Digital Channels at TVNZ. “All of the content on U is factual entertainment and reality programming,” says Jensen. “U Live is our 4pm-7pm daily show filmed live, of course, straight from TVNZ’s atrium. It will be like radio with pictures…chat, music, interviews, but we’ve also thrown Facebook into the mix. A Facebook app will link directly with the broadcast and pull through people’s profile picture, name, age and location along with their comments and the results of polls.” Jensen added that another key part of U is the themed blocks, with a different theme every night from 8.30pm-10.30pm. ‘U TV’, for example, gives lucky viewers a chance to schedule the line-up for that month’s Sunday nights, and host it as well. The Kiwi ‘no 8 fencing wire’ attitude is definitely alive when it comes to technological innovation on TV, especially by the partly governmentfunded TVNZ. The broadcaster won a prestigious International Digital Emmy at Cannes in April last year for interactive youth show Reservoir Hill, a locally-made series dubbed ” as dark as Twilight and as bitchy as Gossip Girl”. The series harnessed the power of social networking site Bebo, which is popular with high schoolers in New Zealand, as well as text messaging to allow users to choose what the main character did next on the show. The Digital Emmy is a first for New Zealand, with Reservoir Hill up against other innovative shows from Canada, the UK, Hong Kong and Finland. It’s also a finalist at the New York Film and Television Awards for best online entertainment programme, which will be announced in Las Vegas on April 12. There is also TVNZ’s popular On Demand viewing and downloading service, which the network launched in 2007, offering latest full episodes of shows from 150 local and international series which play on its ONE and TV2 channels. Last year, the system netted TVNZ a world-first deal with Sony’s Playstation 3, whereby viewers can download and watch episodes directly through the gaming console. Kearley says New Zealand as a whole, and especially TVNZ, is leading the world in digital media programming. “Our international suppliers such as Disney continuously tell us we are breaking new ground. Generally and quite rightly, New Zealand prides itself on innovation. With U, we are trying to make money in a way that gives enjoyment and satisfaction to our viewers and users, by creating a multi-brand screen.” He believes that his previous experience with MTV has only served to enhance his new role with U, and he hopes the lessons that he learned during his time there will make the channel a success. “Generally, youth networks across the world tend to get caught in the same dilemma – they oscillate rapidly between low cost and dirt cheap music video networks with very small cash flows but good percentage margins, to investing heavily in ‘ratings driven’ and relatively expensive programming. But because they target a hard-toreach age segment, they don’t tend to recover these costs. The answer lies in not providing the market position to the youth audience, but to enrol them in a constantly evolving position.” It’s not an easy path that TVNZ U has chosen though; the channel is facing direct competition from Mediaworks, which owns TV3 and the newlyrebranded FOUR, which is going for the broader 18 to 49-year-old market, and refocusing TV3 to target the 25 to 54-year-old audience. “FOUR will be a channel which appeals to anyone looking for great entertainment. Everything the channel does will be entertainment. No news, sports or information, just pure escapism,” says Mediaworks CEO Jason Paris. Popular TV3 shows such as The Simpsons and America’s Next Top Model have moved to FOUR, as well as some new U.S favourites such as the new Hawaii Five-O, and Top Chef: Just Desserts. Mediaworks has indicated that it will not go gently into the night in the network wars. The private network is also no slouch when it comes to technological innovation. It and the Gibson Group came up with the Simon Eliot Show in 2007, a ‘quiz show for kids’ where contestants interact in real-time with the on air animated host Simon, using a webcam and the Internet. The show proved so popular its format was sold to Singapore, Norway and South Africa. As the battle continues to heat up for the volatile and unpredictable youth segment, it remains to be seen which of the new channels will ultimately spin the great Kiwi TV success story, and which will retreat to lick its wounds. The great unanswered question is, of course, whether New Zealand youth will buy into the revolution. Jensen remains confident that U will emerge victorious, because of the channel’s capability to evolve and tailor its programming at the click of a button. “We’re definitely not just rolling out a whole lot of the usual suspects in terms of programming and slapping a new brand on top,” she says. “Virtually all our new content is unseen here and the whole approach is completely new and unique.”