U was an interactive youth-oriented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

television channel, owned and operated by TVNZ. The channel launched on 13 March 2011, and featured reality programming, as well as an interactive live show and music content. It replaced the now defunct

TVNZ 6 TVNZ 6 was a digital-only, commercial-free television channel operated by Television New Zealand. It launched in September 2007, and was available in 60.3% of New Zealand homes on the Freeview and SKY Television Digital platforms. TVNZ 6 was ...

. Leading up to the launch of U, there were 13 days' worth of promotional videos and programming information aired to advertise the new channel. Initially, U closed down every night at midnight, playing the

Goodnight Kiwi The ''Goodnight Kiwi'' is an animated short which has been used to signal the end of nightly broadcasts on Television New Zealand channels. The ''Goodnight Kiwi'' features two characters: the eponymous Goodnight Kiwi (later also called TV Kiwi), a ...

animation to signal the end of nightly broadcast. During its closedown period of 12-midnight to 12-noon, the channel looped a video of non-stop dancing with text reading U 'returns at midday'. From February 2012, the channel began broadcasting infomercials from midnight until midday, except on Saturday and Sunday mornings, when it is illegal to broadcast adverts. On Saturday and Sunday, the channel closes down as usual, with infomercials played until 6am, a graphic is displayed from 6am until midday, and then the broadcast 'returns at midday'. In April 2013, the channel launched ''U Late'', a late night version of its flagship programme ''

U Live ''U Live'' was the flagship show of TVNZ U, airing live from 4pm - 7pm daily. The show featured music, interviews, and other general interest content. Viewers were invited to participate via Facebook to vote in psychic readings, take part in disc ...

'', but without the music videos. It was described as late night antics and chat, live and interactive every evening. U ceased broadcast on 31 August 2013.

Pre-launch

In preparation of the launch of U, TVNZ established a Facebook page for their new channel, giving fans information and offering one person the chance to schedule a selected segment of programming on the new channel for a month (known as ''U TV''). On the evening of 28 February 2011,

was officially shut down, allowing TVNZ to air promotional material for the new channel. At 3 pm on 9 March 2011, TVNZ activated its ''U Live'' application on Facebook, which, upon the launch of the channel, would allow users to share content and have it displayed as part of the ''U Live'' TV show.

Launch

U was launched on 13 March 2011 at 4 pm on

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

channel 6 and Sky channel 16. The first program to air was ''U Live''.

Closure

TVNZ closed U on 31 August 2013 at 7 pm after two years running at a loss. TVNZ announced that time-shift channel TV2+1 would launch to replace the channel on 1 September 2013 at 7 am. The final show to screen on U was ''U Live'' with the entire crew giving a farewell message, the final song to play on ''U Live'' was 2 Times by

Ann Lee Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or the Shakers. After nearly two decades of participation in a r ...

. After the end credits for ''U Live'', a message was displayed on the U channel advising viewers of the new channel number for TV One +1 and TV2+1 (now TVNZ 1 +1 and TVNZ 2 +1 respectively). The channel numbers vary for viewers of Sky, Freeview and Igloo.

''U Live''

The flagship show of U was ''U Live'', a live show which aired 4pm – 7pm daily. The show featured music, interviews, and other general interest content. Viewers were invited to participate via a Facebook application, where they could vote in polls, take part in discussions, and view the show via a live commercial and graphic free stream. Comments and polls were then selected and displayed on screen during broadcast. U Live was hosted by

Rose Matafeo Rose Catherine Lettitia Matafeo (; born 25 February 1992) is a New Zealand comedian, actress, and TV presenter. She was a writer and performer on the New Zealand late-night comedy sketch show '' Funny Girls''. In 2018, she won the Edinburgh Come ...

, Connor Nestor,

Matt Gibb Matthew Phillip "Matt" Gibb (born 15 January 1981) is a television presenter in Auckland, New Zealand. He is best known for presenting the children's television show ''Studio 2'' from 2004 until 2010. In 2015 Gibb was also a regular presenter f ...

, Eli Matthewson and former

George FM George FM is a New Zealand dance music radio station, owned and operated by MediaWorks from its Hargreaves Street headquarters and relayed on Freeview and radio frequencies around New Zealand. Its seventy-five regular presenters and additional ...

breakfast host Kirsteen MacKenzie. U Live drew many parallels to TVNZ's rival network MediaWorks' youth-oriented show '' Four Live'', which aired on

FOUR 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

U's themed nights

U had themed programming for the different days of the week, with each theme having a distinctive title. Selected programming available on each night is listed below. * Programming until closure ()

References

{{Navboxes, , list1= {{TVNZ {{Television in New Zealand {{Channels on Sky TV Defunct New Zealand television channels Television channels and stations established in 2011 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2013 English-language television stations in New Zealand